Use What God’s Given You — April 9 [Description]Overview of Matthew 13:51-52:In these verses, Jesus asks His disciples if they understand the parables He’s just shared. When they say yes, He compares them to a scribe (a trained teacher of the Law) who has become a disciple of the Kingdom. This person is like the master of a house who brings out treasures both old and new—a metaphor for blending the truths they already knew with the new revelations Jesus was giving.Jesus is essentially saying:If you truly understand the Kingdom, you won’t just hoard knowledge—you’ll use it, share it, and keep learning. You’re responsible for handling God’s truth well, teaching others with wisdom from the past and insight for the present.Overview of the Passage:This passage highlights how Christ taught both the crowds and His disciples, not only imparting truth but preparing them to share it. Jesus compares His followers to a householder who brings forth treasures both new and old—symbolizing the gospel truths found in both the Old and New Testaments. The passage emphasizes that true understanding of God’s word leads to a deep desire to share it. Scripture is described as a living treasure, unfolding continually through nature, experience, and most clearly, the written Word.The Old and New Testaments are not separate messages but one unified revelation of Jesus Christ. The deeper one studies Scripture through the Holy Spirit, the more beauty and depth they discover—always old, always new. Those who receive this light will share it, and in doing so, receive even more. The gospel is not just knowledge, but an ever-deepening experience of Christ, with inexhaustible riches waiting for every generation. 365D 99

Bible discovery 365D 99

Matthew 13:51-52 365D 99.1

51 ^{[d]NU omits Jesus said to them} Jesus said to them, “Have you understood all these things?” They said to Him, “Yes, ^{[e]NU omits Lord} Lord.” 365D 99.2

52 Then He said to them, “Therefore every ^{[f]A scholar of the Old Testament} scribe instructed ^{[g]Or for} concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old.” 365D 99.3

Spirit of Prophecy Reading 365D 99

Christ’s Object Lessons pp.124-128: 365D 99.4

This chapter is based on Matthew 13:51, 52. 365D 99.5

While Christ was teaching the people, He was also educating His disciples for their future work. In all His instruction there were lessons for them. After giving the parable of the net, He asked them, “Have ye understood all these things?” They said unto Him, “Yea, Lord.” Then in another parable He set before them their responsibility in regard to the truths they had received. “Therefore,” He said, “every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old.” 365D 99.6

The treasure gained by the householder he does not hoard. He brings it forth to communicate to others. And by use the treasure increases. The householder has precious things both new and old. So Christ teaches that the truth committed to His disciples is to be communicated to the world. And as the knowledge of truth is imparted, it will increase. 365D 99.7

There are those who profess to believe and to teach the truths of the Old Testament, while they reject the New. But in refusing to receive the teachings of Christ, they show that they do not believe that which patriarchs and prophets have spoken. “Had ye believed Moses,” Christ said, “ye would have believed Me; for he wrote of Me.” John 5:46. Hence there is no real power in their teaching of even the Old Testament. 365D 99.8

Many who claim to believe and to teach the gospel are in a similar error. They set aside the Old Testament Scriptures, of which Christ declared, “They are they which testify of Me.” John 5:39. In rejecting the Old, they virtually reject the New; for both are parts of an inseparable whole. No man can rightly present the law of God without the gospel, or the gospel without the law. The law is the gospel embodied, and the gospel is the law unfolded. The law is the root, the gospel is the fragrant blossom and fruit which it bears. 365D 99.9

The Old Testament sheds light upon the New, and the New upon the Old. Each is a revelation of the glory of God in Christ. Both present truths that will continually reveal new depths of meaning to the earnest seeker. 365D 99.10

Truth in Christ and through Christ is measureless. The student of Scripture looks, as it were, into a fountain that deepens and broadens as he gazes into its depths. Not in this life shall we comprehend the mystery of God’s love in giving His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. The work of our Redeemer on this earth is and ever will be a subject that will put to the stretch our highest imagination. Man may tax every mental power in the endeavor to fathom this mystery, but his mind will become faint and weary. The most diligent searcher will see before him a boundless, shoreless sea. 365D 99.11