“Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old” (Matthew 13:52 ESV).
After Jesus had finished using many parables describing the kingdom of heaven, he asked his disciples whether they understood. They replied that they had understood. Jesus then called them “scribes” who had been instructed in the kingdom. In Jewish life, a scribe was one who was an expert in the Old Testament law as a result of copying it with great care, often one letter at a time to produce a new copy. They were also known as teachers of the law. Jesus told his disciples that they were now like scribes who were instructed in the new teaching of the kingdom, which is the gospel of Jesus Christ.
As a result of the training that Jesus had given his disciples, he compared them to a “master of a house,” an owner of a great house, who brings out treasure from both the old that he had stored up and the newly acquired. For the disciples had been taught the Old Testament and now that were being given the new teachings from Jesus, which would become the New Testament.
This treasure is the gospel of the kingdom and Jesus spent three years teaching them that they might understand. For the best way to understand the Old Testament is through the lens of the New, through the lens of Jesus. This understanding is a great treasure for it reveals the way to eternal life through Jesus.
The one who would be a teacher of the gospel must bring out the treasure of the good news from both the old and the new testaments. For the key to understanding all Scripture is Christ. Do you understand this?
PRAYER: Dear Father, thank You for Your Word and even more, thank You for Jesus, our Living Word. For we study at His feet. It is the Spirit of Christ, Your Holy Spirit, that gives us understanding of Your Word. Thank You for revealing the treasure of the gospel of the kingdom to us. Strengthen us to grow in understanding and to be as scribes, teaching it to others. In Jesus’ name, amen.