Introduction
In the Gospel of Matthew the Lord Jesus is brought before us as Israel’s true Messiah, their King, and He preached “the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt. 4:17). John the Baptist had been sent as the forerunner to prepare His way (Matt. 3:3). The Spirit of God had marked out the Lord Jesus at His baptism, and the Father’s voice from heaven said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:17). The Lord Jesus did many wonderful works of power which the nation of Israel had seen and could not deny, but after all this, they rejected Him and sought to destroy Him (Matt. 12:14). Their crowning sin was to say that He cast out devils by Satan’s power (Matt. 12:24).
The Lord Leaves the “House”
This causes the Lord Jesus to go out of “the house,” a figure of Israel’s favored place as God’s earthly people, and He sits by the seaside (Matt. 13:1). It was there that the Lord gave these seven similitudes of the kingdom of heaven. We might say that the expression “the kingdom of heaven” is speaking of the character of things in that part of the world which we often call “Christendom,” where there is an outward profession of Christianity, some real and some not. There are seven similitudes in Matthew 13, giving us a prophetic outline of what would take place in the absence of the Lord Jesus, the rightful King, whom we as believers own as such even now:
Christ of God, our souls confess Thee
King and Sovereign even now!
(Little Flock Hymnbook, #134)
The Lord As the “Sower”
The first parable is, in a sense, not a similitude, for it speaks of Christ as the sower of good seed of the Word of God and its effect upon those who hear it. Although the Lord Jesus is now absent, the sowing of the good seed goes on, and the effect is the same. The Lord Himself interprets the meaning of this parable to us, so we know its true meaning.
The first cast of seed fell by the wayside and Satan takes it away. How often this takes place after a gospel meeting. Satan occupies the mind of the hearers with other things and the solemnity of the message is forgotten.
The next cast of seed falls on stony places. The persons who hear may seem to enjoy the message, but there is no depth, no repentance of their sins, as is often said, “Religious but lost” (see John 2:23-25). There has been no work of God in the conscience, and the person gives up when there is tribulation or persecution.
The next cast of seed falls among thorns and these persons value present things, riches and ease, more than the unsearchable riches of Christ, and they choose present things rather than eternal values.
But there are those whose consciences are reached, and the Word falls on good ground and springs up in life and bears fruit for the glory of God. These are true believers, but all believers do not bear the same amount of fruit, yet there is always some fruit for God when the person is truly born of God and is a new creature in Christ Jesus.
The Parable of the Tares
Now, in Matthew 13:24 there is a real similitude in the parable of the tares. The enemy is brought before us here, the devil, who brings into the field of Christendom those who take the place of Christians, but the way they live and their evil teachings show they are not truly saved (see Acts 8:21).
It is not our place to “root them out.” They grow together in the “field” of Christian profession. They gather in different groups (bundles), some denying the Person of Christ, His glorious work of redemption and other fundamental truth. This will continue till the Lord comes for His own, and then, being left behind at His coming, they will be brought into judgment.
The Parable of the Mustard Seed
The next similitude is the parable of the grain of mustard seed, which when planted is only a tiny seed, but when grown it becomes a tree with the birds lodging in its branches. This is a picture of how Christianity, which had a very small beginning (about one hundred and twenty souls on the day of Pentecost; Acts 1:15), becomes a great religious profession, where the messengers of Satan, like the birds in the tree (Satan is the prince of the power of the air; Eph. 2:2), find a lodging place.
The Parable of the Leaven
Then follows the similitude of the leaven, which was placed in the three measures of meal and worked till the whole was leavened. Leaven, as we learn from 1 Corinthians 5:8, is used in Scripture as a figure of evil. This similitude tells us of how there would be a system in Christendom which, while rightly maintaining the blessed truth of the Trinity the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit (Matt. 28:19) would bring into their teaching many evil doctrines mixing truth and error and corrupting the truth.
The Lord Explains to the Disciples
After speaking to the multitude in these parables, the Lord goes into the “house” and explains their true meaning to the disciples, for while the world does not understand these things, the Lord would have His own to understand His ways and His purposes, for we are His friends (Matt. 13:11; John 15:15). When the Lord has gone into “the house,” He speaks three more similitudes specially for His disciples to hear, for they show us, as the Lord says, about “things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world” (Matt. 13:35).
The Parable of the Hid Treasure
Now that the multitude has been sent away, the Lord speaks of the “treasure hid in a field.” The Lord has already told us that “the field is the world” (Matt. 13:38). In this world, in spite of all the sin and wickedness, there is that which is precious to the Lord. Israel has been set aside for the time, and “not My people” is, so to speak, written upon them (Hosea 1:9). They will be blessed in a future day, and all is, of course, known before to the Lord (Acts 15:18). The church is now being gathered out for heavenly glory. The Lord Jesus has “bought the field.” It was His by right as Creator, but Satan, the usurper, has taken the place as the “prince of this world” (John 14:30; Luke 4:6). The Lord Jesus will soon declare His rights to it (Rev. 4:11; 11:15) and all in heaven and earth will be brought under Him. Meanwhile He has “sold all that He had” to get the “treasure.” Now all the field belongs to the Lord as Creator and as Redeemer (1 Cor. 10:26). He will soon claim it as His own.
The Parable of the Pearl of Great Price
Then comes the similitude of the pearl of great price. This refers to the church, for we are told in Ephesians 5:25 that “Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it.” Truly the Lord Jesus has not only “bought” the field but He gave Himself for this church, the object of His affection. What a blessed place we have in His affections now, and in a coming day the church will be presented to Him “a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing” (Eph. 5:27).
The Parable of the Great Net
Last of all we have the great net cast into the sea and gathering fish of every kind. This perhaps brings before us the great gospel activity of the last days, for the gospel net is gathering of every kind. There is a great deal of profession without reality. The intelligent fisherman is occupied with the “good fish,” those who are really saved. He does not occupy himself with the “bad fish”; he leaves them.
He is concerned with the good, the true Christians, that they might be “gathered... into vessels,” into a place of separation gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus (Matt. 18:20), “sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work” (2 Tim. 2:21).
The final judgment of the lost will take place later on, as we learn here (vss. 49-50). All this is given for our instruction that we might understand these ways of God and know what is going on in the “kingdom of heaven,” as well as understanding all His ways with men “things new and old.”
Conclusion
How wonderful the grace that has saved us, calling us His friends and telling us about these things (Matt. 13:52; Eph. 1:9-11). May we value the truth of God and walk in it for His glory till He calls us to shine in the “kingdom of [our] Father” in the heavenly glory (Matt. 13:43).
And when the day of glory
Shall burst upon this scene,
Dispelling all the darkness
Which deepening still had been;
Oh, then He’ll come in brightness,
Whom every eye shall see,
Arrayed in power and glory,
And we shall with Him be.
(Little Flock Hymnbook, #141)
G. H. Hayhoe