THE TWO SEEDS, THE MASTER KEY

`The enemy that sowed them is the devil -- They shall gather out of His kingdom all things that offend (the word

offence refers to traps set to catch the unwary, the first trap being set in the garden of Eden itself by this enemy),

and them that do iniquity (lawlessness); and shall cast them into a furnace of fire' (Matt. 13:39-42).

Will you note at this point that the words of the parable, `bind them in bundles to burn them', are interpreted as a

literal furnace of fire? It is difficult to see how this fire can in any sense eventuate in reconciliation, but that is not

our immediate concern. There is an expression here which I translated `them that do lawlessness' (verse 41).

A. -- Yes, I noticed it at the time. Has that some special significance?

B. -- In Matthew 7:23 the Lord says:

`Then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity (lawlessness)',

and Matthew 13:41 speaks of `them that do lawlessness'.

In Matthew 23:28 those to whom the Lord's `woe unto you' is addressed are said to be `full of hypocrisy and

lawlessness', and these are further addressed in verses 32 and 33:

`Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers, ye serpents, ye progeny of vipers. How can ye escape the judgment

of Gehenna?' (Author's translation).

Compare this with the `tares'. Matthew 24:12 says:

`Because lawlessness shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold'.

Here are all the occurrences of `lawlessness' in Matthew, and they appear to refer to some one definite thing, and

not to the sins and shortcomings of men in general. We must reserve judgment on this until we examine `the

mystery of lawlessness' itself. Meanwhile we will turn to 1 John 3. In the fourth verse we read, `for sin is the

transgression of the law', literally `the sin is the lawlessness'.

Sin is essentially that Satanic system headed up in the mystery of iniquity, and so 1 John 3:8 says:

`The one doing lawlessness is of the devil: for the devil sinneth from the beginning' (Author's translation. cf.

John 8:44).

Here we have ek tou diabolou, `of the devil'. In 1 John 3:9,10 we read:

`Whosoever hath been begotten of God (ek tou Theou) does not do sin; for His seed remaineth in him, and he

cannot sin because he hath been begotten of God (ek tou Theou). In this are the CHILDREN OF GOD manifest and

the CHILDREN OF THE DEVIL' (Author's translation).

In verse 12 we are taken back to the beginning of things:

`Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one (ek tou ponerou), and slew his brother'.

Am I not therefore Scriptural when I limit the scope of the term `all things are of God', and when I refuse to

confuse this term with that which is `of the devil'?

A. -- This is all very strange and awful, but how does this bear upon the character of the Amorites?

B. -- The last reference (1 John 3:12) takes us back to Genesis 4:1. At the birth of Cain, Eve exclaimed, `I have

gotten a man, even Jehovah' (Hebrew, Ish eth Jehovah). Eve believed that this first son born was the promised seed

who should bruise the serpent's head. Scripture reveals the awful fact that instead of being the promised seed Cain

was the first of the seed of the serpent; he was `of that wicked one'.

A. -- How can this be? and how can a man be Jehovah?

B. -- As to the second question. Jehovah is a title of Christ, and Eve's hope was fulfilled in the birth of Christ:

`For unto you is born this day -- a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord (Jehovah)' (Luke 2:11).