There is nothing more striking in the word of God, as showing its divine authorship, than that, when rend with diligence and care, there should be constantly rising up to view some fresh proof, some new and striking feature, of its infinitely-diversified and infinitely-perfect character.
When read with careless indifference, the mind contracts a habit of supposing that all has been learned from it which it contains, because familiarity with its general contents serves to take off the edge of its interest. It is far otherwise when the habit of daily study keeps the word before the soul.
This thought has been suggested by a recent meditation on the two parables, and two historic scenes in our Lord's life, which are presented in this passage, and which I will now endeavor briefly to set before my readers.
It may tend to an understanding of the subject, and to give definiteness to our thoughts, if a remark or two be made on the phrase, " the kingdom of God," with which both parables are introduced. In Matthew's Gospel, and peculiar to it, as the Gospel of dispensation, the corresponding phrase is " the kingdom of heaven," or the reign, or rule, of heaven. From the uniform application of the phrase, it is manifest that a distinct dispensational period or state of things is characterized by it. In Matt. 3:22And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. (Matthew 3:2) we find John the Baptist commencing his preaching in the wilderness of Judwa, by crying, " Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." When John was cast into prison, it is said, (iv. 17,) " From that time Jesus began to preach, and say, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand:" i.e., He announced a new period in God's dealing with Israel, with its own peculiar characteristics, as about to commence. Much is said about it in parables and otherwise afterward, without attention to which it is impossible that the gospel should be understood.
It was plainly an expectation familiar to the Jews, however much their thoughts were astray as to the nature of the kingdom" and of the characteristics of its subjects. The phrase itself appears to have taken rise from a prediction in Daniel, if not from an earlier oracle in Deuteronomy, (chap. xi. 21,) in which Israel's blessings are foretold as " the days of heaven upon earth." But Daniel is plain. In chap. ii. 44 it is said, " In the days of those kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom," &c. This, coupled with chap. vii. 13, 14, presents the fact of the kingdom, and the person of him who is said to wield its power. " I saw in the night visions, and behold one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came unto the Ancient of Days; and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom," &c.
The corresponding phrase to that of Matthew in the other Gospels is " the kingdom of God." To a considerable extent this is interchangeable with that in Matthew, and is often so employed. It is, however, distinctive, and is less knit up with Jewish expectations; and I think it is always used to indicate the moral power connected with the reign rather than simply the reign itself: Moreover, it runs on in its application to a sphere which lies beyond the apparently-proper range of the kingdom of heaven. We read in 1 Cor. 15:5050Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. (1 Corinthians 15:50), " Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom, of God: neither doth corruption inherit incorruption."
As used by the Lord Jesus in these parables, it marks a definite sphere in this world subject to the operation of God; which commenced, as to time, with His own ministry, and will be terminated by His coming again, in connection with its final results. There needs no formal proof as to who the sower is, and as little as to who it is that will be present again in the " time of harvest."
The purport of the parable is to show that to the eye of man, after Christ left the scene, as the sower, all goes on apparently in its natural course; and in truth that there would be no personal interference on the part of him who sowed the seed until the time of harvest. The parable represents simply a process in husbandry. A man casts seed into the ground. He sows his field and leaves it. " He sleeps and rises night and day;" i.e., the ordinary circumstances of life go on, and he does not trouble himself about his field. He has sown it, and however indifferent he may appear, the field was sown that in the time of harvest it might be reaped. Meanwhile the processes of nature go on The seed springs and grows, but he knows not how. It is the result neither of his power nor care. " The earth brings forth fruit of herself." In due time there is the blade and the ear, and after that the full corn in the ear. All this is a result apart from man's power, or man's care, or man's cognizance. When the fruit is brought forth and the harvest is the result of his sowing, immediately he puts in his sickle and reaps, "because the harvest is come." The parable is but a tale of everyday farming life, and is seen in accomplishment in the revolution of every season. The divine instruction is, "so is the kingdom of God." The seed was sown by the Son of man. Since then the world has gone on in its ordinary, unheeding course; but ever since the harvest has been advancing.
Man's care, it is true, has had little to do with the matter; but the power that gives the increase has been silently and effectually at work. To the eye of man there is no interference. All seems to have been left to the course of the world; but the process has been going on. The blade has sprung up, the ear has been formed, and the full corn in the ear is at hand, when " the harvest" will bring Him who sowed the field, to be again present in connection with it to gather the wheat into his garner. " He was once offered to bear the sins of many; [the corn of wheat, the true sowing for the harvest, has fallen into the ground and died:] and to them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation." But the lesson of the parable is, the absence from the field, and the apparent indifference toward it of the sower, until harvest brings him again into personal concern and interference with it.
The parable of the " grain of mustard seed" presents another aspect of " the kingdom of God," and which indicates that its recognition, in this character, is by the eye of man, like the former.
The historic scenes which follow are intimately connected with the parables, and give the other side of the truth with regard to them. But their elucidation must be deferred to the sequel of the paper.
(To be continued.)