WITH the exception of some in the gospel by Luke, the mysteries, or secret things of the kingdom of heaven, are disclosed by these portions of the Word. There is no direct mention in them of the blood of Christ and the grace of God. We cannot, with exact correctness, say of the Parables, these are the glad tidings which are to be made known to all nations for the obedience of faith, in the name of the Lord Jesus—that Gospel which is the power of God to salvation to every one that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
They are the teachings of Jesus as the Prophet like unto Moses (Deut. 18:15-19; see also Ps. 78:1, 2), and as the Son of Man (Matt. 13: 37, 38).
Of old, when wickedness and ruin rose to their height in Israel, and every ordained link between them and Jehovah their God, such as laws, statutes, judgments, priesthood, kingship, failed to maintain the relations He had been pleased to form with them; He interposed by the testimony of prophets; and whilst judging by His words in their mouth all that was evil, disclosed the resources of His unchanging grace, and the end He had still in view for their blessing. As soon as people, priests, elders, rulers, scribes, pharisees, sadducees, and wise men, had one and all risen up against Jesus as presented to them “a Minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers,” we find that He takes the place of Prophet, instructing the willing-hearted and His disciples; and bringing forth in His testimony, not only as a Scribe well instructed unto the kingdom of heaven things new and old, but also things hidden from the foundation of the world.
An humble reverent meditation of the Word, with prayerful waiting upon God, will enable us to see plainly in these mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, which our Lord disclosed by similitudes or parables, the two points: what belong to His words as the “Prophet like unto Moses,” and what belong to them as “the Son of Man.” We shall not confound things that differ, however dose their connection may be; nor carry beyond their full and just meaning these divine revelations, into what yet remained to be spoken and declared through other channels, the disclosure of which waited for other circumstances.
If I connect Deut. 18 and Ps. 78, bearing in mind the character of the former, both when and why delivered to Israel by Moses, what manner of testimony also for God and against them it contains, I see how the Lord’s own place is foreshown, for Moses was but a servant in all that house, for a testimony to things which should be afterwards spoken—a poor figure, an imperfect shadow—for we find Jesus in these Parables not only as Prophet and Servant, but also as King; and more than that, fulfilling what goes beyond the bounds of Israel, even all that is connected with Himself as Son of man.
Concerning the kingdom of heaven, from the days of David and Solomon throughout the Psalms and the Prophets, it had been discoursed of, and yet not in all its bearings, in its inward and outward, its spiritual and material constitution.
“The Prophet” like unto Moses brings out things new and old, things bidden in the letter of the scriptures, and yet revealed in the letter— “The Servant” was, if it were possible, to raise up the tribes of Israel. “The King” would be owned in His kingdoms. “The Son of man” honored in judgment. All these are combined in the Parables and much more. I do not say the unsearchable riches of Christ, in the mystery of His person, hereby directly come forth, though everywhere He is to be seen and adored.