Matthew 13
BBCMatthew 13:1
VIII. THE KING ANNOUNCES A NEW INTERIM FORM OF THE KINGDOM DUE TO ISRAEL’S REJECTION (Chap. 13) Parables of the Kingdom We have come to a crisis point in the Gospel by Matthew. The Lord has indicated that earthly relationships are now to be superseded by spiritual ties, that it is no longer a question of Jewish birth but of obedience to God, the Father. In rejecting the King, the scribes and Pharisees have necessarily rejected the kingdom. Now by a series of parables, the Lord Jesus gives a preview of the new form which the kingdom would take during the period between His rejection and His eventual manifestation as King of kings and Lord of lords. Six of these parables begin with the words, The kingdom of heaven is like. … In order to see these parables in proper perspective, let us review the kingdom as discussed in chapter 3.
The kingdom of heaven is the sphere in which God’s rule is acknowledged. It has two aspects: (1) outward profession, including all who claim to recognize God’s rule; and (2) inner reality, including only those who enter the kingdom by conversion. The kingdom is found in five phases: (1) the OT phase in which it was prophesied; (2) the phase in which it was at hand or present in the Person of the King; (3) the interim phase, consisting of those on earth who profess to be His subjects following the King’s rejection and return to Heaven; (4) the manifestation of the kingdom during the Millennium; and (5) the final, everlasting, kingdom. Every Bible reference to the kingdom fits into one of these phases. It is the third, interim phase which chapter 13 discusses. During this phase the kingdom in its inner reality (true believers) is composed, from Pentecost to the Rapture, of the same people as the church.
This is the only identity between the kingdom and the church; they are not otherwise one and the same. With this background in mind, let us look at the parables. A. The Parable of the Sower (13:1-9) 13:1 Jesus went out of the house where He had healed the demoniac and sat by the sea of Galilee. Many Bible students see the house as picturing the nation of Israel and the sea, the Gentiles. Thus the Lord’s movement symbolizes a break with Israel; during its interim form, the kingdom will be preached to the nations. 13:2 As great multitudes gathered on the beach, He got into a boat and began to teach the people by parables. A parable is a story with an underlying spiritual or moral teaching which is not always apparent immediately. The seven parables that follow tell us what the kingdom will be like during the time between His First and Second Advents. The first four were spoken to the multitude; the last three were given only to the disciples. The Lord explained the first two and the seventh to the disciples, leaving them (and us) to interpret the others with the keys He had already given. 13:3 The first parable concerns a sower who planted his seed in four different types of soil. As might be expected, the results were different in each case.
SOILRESULTS1. Hard-packed pathway. 1. Seeds eaten by the birds. 2. Thin layer of soil over rock deposit. 2. Seed sprouted quickly, but no root; scorched by the sun and withered away. 3. Ground infested with thorns. 3. The seed sprouted, but growth was impossible because of the thorns. 4. Good ground4. The seed sprouted, grew, and yielded a crop: some stalks bore a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 13:9 Jesus closed the parable with the cryptic admonition, He who has ears to hear, let him hear! In the parable He was conveying an important message to the multitude, and a different message to the disciples. None should miss the significance of His words. Since the Lord Himself interprets the parable in verses 18-23, we will restrain our curiosity until we reach that paragraph.
Matthew 13:10
B. The Purpose of the Parables (13:10-17) 13:10 The disciples were puzzled that the Lord should speak to the people in the veiled language of parables. So they asked Him to explain His method. 13:11 In His reply, Jesus distinguished between the unbelieving crowd and the believing disciples. The crowd, a cross-section of the nation, was obviously rejecting Him, though their rejection would not be complete until the cross. They would not be permitted to know the mysteries (secrets) of the kingdom of heaven, whereas His true followers would be helped to understand. A mystery in the NT is a fact never previously known by man, which man could never learn apart from divine revelation, but which has now been revealed. The mysteries of the kingdom are hitherto unknown truths concerning the kingdom in its interim form. The very fact that the kingdom would have an interim form had been a secret up to now. The parables describe some of the features of the kingdom during the time when the King would be absent. Some people therefore call this the mystery form of the kingdomnot that there is anything mysterious about it but simply that it was never known before that time. 13:12 It may seem arbitrary that these secrets should be withheld from the multitude and revealed to the disciples. But the Lord gives the reason: For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away. The disciples had faith in the Lord Jesus; therefore, they would be given the capacity for more. They had accepted the light; therefore, they would receive more light. The Jewish nation, on the other hand, had rejected the Light of the world; therefore they were not only prevented from receiving more light, they would lose what little light they had. Light rejected is light denied. 13:13 Matthew Henry compares the parables to the pillar of cloud and fire which enlightened Israel while confusing the Egyptians. The parables would be revealed to those who were sincerely interested but would prove only an irritation to those who were hostile to Jesus.So it was not a matter of whim on the Lord’s part, but simply the outworking of a principle which is built into all of lifewillful blindness is followed by judicial blindness. That is why He spoke to the Jews in parables. H. C. Woodring put it so: Because they did not have the love of the truth, they would not get the light of the truth.
They professed to see, that is, to be familiar with divine truth, but Truth incarnate stood before them and they resolutely refused to see Him. They professed to hear God’s Word, but the living Word of God was in their midst and they would not obey Him. They were unwilling to understand the wonderful fact of the Incarnation; therefore, the capacity to understand was taken from them. 13:14, 15 They were a living fulfillment of the prophecy of Isa_6:9-10. Israel’s heart had grown dull and their ears were insensitive to the voice of God. They deliberately refused to see with their eyes. They knew that if they saw, heard, understood, and repented, God would heal them. But in their sickness and need, they refused His help. Therefore, their punishment was that they would hear but not understand, and see but not perceive. 13:16, 17 The disciples were tremendously privileged, because they were seeing what no one had seen before. The prophets and righteous men of the OT had longed to be living when the Messiah arrived, but their desire had not been fulfilled. The disciples were favored to live at that crisis moment in history, to see the Messiah, to witness His miracles, and to hear the incomparable teaching which came from His lips.
Matthew 13:18
C. Explanation of the Parable of the Sower (13:18-23) 13:18 Having explained why He used parables, the Lord now proceeds to expound the parable of the four soils. He does not identify the sower but we can be sure that it refers either to Himself (v. 37) or to those who preach the message of the kingdom. He defines the seed as the word of the kingdom (v. 19). The soils represent those who hear the message. 13:19 The hard-packed pathway speaks of people who refuse to receive the message. They hear the gospel but do not understand itnot because they can’t but because they won’t. The birds are a picture of Satan; he snatches away the seed from the hearts of these hearers. He cooperates with them in their self-chosen barrenness. The Pharisees were hard-soil hearers. 13:20, 21 When Jesus spoke of rocky ground, He had in mind a thin layer of earth covering a ledge of rock. This represents people who hear the word and respond with joy. At first the sower might be elated that his preaching is so successful. But soon he learns the deeper lesson, that it is not good when the message is received with smiles and cheers. First there must be conviction of sin, contrition, and repentance. It is far more promising to see an inquirer weeping his way to Calvary than to see him walking down the aisle light-heartedly and exuberantly.
The shallow earth yields a shallow profession; there is no depth to the root. But when his profession is tested by the scorching sun of tribulation or persecution, he decides it isn’t worth it and abandons any profession of subjection to Christ. 13:22 The thorn-infested ground represents another class who hear the word in a superficial way. They appear outwardly to be genuine subjects of the kingdom but in time their interest is choked out by the cares of this world and by their delight in riches. There is no fruit for God in their lives. Lang illustrates this by a son of a money-loving father with a huge business. This son heard the Word in his youth but became engrossed in the business. He had soon to choose between pleasing his Lord or his father. Thus the thorns were in the soil when the seed was sown and germinated; the cares of this age and the deceitfulness of riches were already at hand. He fell in with his father’s wishes, devoted himself fully to business, rose to be head of the concern, and when well on in life had to acknowledge that he had neglected things heavenly. He was about to retire and he expressed his intention to be more diligent in matters spiritual. But God is not to be mocked. The man retired and died suddenly in only a few months. He left a390,000 and a spiritually wasted life. The thorns had choked the word and it was unfruitful. 13:23 The good ground represents a true believer. He … hears the word receptively and understands it through obeying what he hears. Although these believers do not all produce the same amount of fruit, they all show by their fruit that they have divine life. Fruit here is probably the manifestation of Christian character rather than souls won to Christ. When the word fruit is used in the NT, it generally refers to the fruit of the Spirit (Gal_5:22-23). What was the parable meant to say to the crowds? Obviously it warned against the peril of hearing without obeying. It was calculated also to encourage individuals to receive the Word sincerely, then to prove their reality by bringing forth fruit for God. As for the disciples, the parable prepared them and future followers of Jesus for the otherwise discouraging fact that relatively few of those who hear the message are genuinely saved. It saves Christ’s loyal subjects from the delusion that all the world will be converted through the spread of the gospel. The disciples are also warned in this parable against the three great antagonists of the gospel: (1) the devil (the birdsthe evil one); (2) the flesh (the scorching suntribulation or persecution); and (3) the world (the thorns cares of the world and the delight in riches). Finally the disciples are given a vision as to the tremendous returns from investing in human personality. Thirtyfold Isaiah 3,000 percent return, sixtyfold Isaiah 6,000 percent return, and one hundredfold Isaiah 10,000 percent return on the investment. There is actually no way of measuring the results of a single case of genuine conversion. An obscure Sunday school teacher invested in Dwight L. Moody. Moody won others. They in turn won others. The Sunday school teacher started a chain reaction that will never stop.
Matthew 13:24
D. The Parable of the Wheat and Tares (13:24-30) The preceding parable was a vivid illustration of the fact that the kingdom of heaven includes those who give only lip service to the King as well as those who are His genuine disciples. The first three soils typify the kingdom in its widest circleoutward profession. The fourth soil represents the kingdom as a smaller circlethose who have been truly converted. 13:24-26 The second parablethe wheat and the taresalso sets forth the kingdom in these two aspects. The wheat depicts true believers, the tares are mere professors. Jesus compares the kingdom to a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat. Unger says that the most common tare found in grainfields in the Holy Land is bearded darnel, a poisonous grass, almost indistinguishable from wheat while the two are growing into blade. But when they come into ear, they can be separated without difficulty.13:27, 28 When the servants saw the tares mixed in with the grain, they asked the householder how this happened. He immediately recognized it as the work of an enemy. The servants were ready to pull the weeds immediately. 13:29, 30 But the farmer ordered them to wait until the harvest. Then reapers would separate the two. The grain would be gathered into barns and the darnel would be burned. Why did the farmer order this delay in separation? In nature the roots of the grain and darnel are so intertwined that it is virtually impossible to pull up one without the other. This parable is explained by our Lord in verses 37-43, so we will forego further comment till then.
Matthew 13:31
E. The Parable of the Mustard Seed (13:31, 32) Next the Savior likens the kingdom to a mustard seed which He called the smallest of seeds, that is, smallest in the experience of His listeners. When a man planted one of these seeds, it grew into a tree, a growth that is phenomenal. The normal mustard plant is more like a bush than a tree. The tree was large enough for birds to nest in its branchesThe seed represents the humble beginning of the kingdom. At first the kingdom was kept relatively small and pure as a result of persecution. But with the patronage and protection of the state, it suffered abnormal growth.
Then the birds came and roosted in it. The same word for birds is used here as in verse 4; Jesus explained the birds as meaning the evil one (v. 19). The kingdom became a nesting place for Satan and his agents. Today the umbrella of Christendom covers such Christ-denying systems as Unitarianism, Christian Science, Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and the Unification Church (moonies). So here the Lord forewarned the disciples that during His absence the kingdom would experience a phenomenal growth. They should not be deceived nor equate growth with success. It would be unhealthy growth. Though the tiny seed would become an abnormal tree, its largeness would become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird (Rev_18:2).
Matthew 13:33
F. The Parable of the Leaven (13:33) Next the Lord Jesus compared the kingdom to leaven which a woman hid in three measures of meal. Eventually all the meal became leavened. A common interpretation is that the meal is the world and the leaven is the gospel which will be preached throughout the world until everyone becomes saved. This view, however, is contradicted by Scripture, by history, and by current events. Leaven is always a type of evil in the Bible. When God commanded His people to rid their houses of leaven (Exo_12:15), they understood this. If anyone ate what was leavened from the first till the seventh day of this Feast of Unleavened Bread, he would be cut off from Israel. Jesus warned against the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees (Mat_16:6, Mat_16:12) and the leaven of Herod (Mar_8:15). In 1Co_5:6-8 leaven is defined as malice and evil, and the context of Gal_5:9 shows that there it means false teaching. In general, leaven means either evil doctrine or evil behavior. So in this parable the Lord warns against the permeating power of evil working in the kingdom of heaven. The parable of the mustard seed shows evil in the external character of the kingdom; this parable shows the inward corruption that would take place. We believe that in this parable the meal represents the food of God’s people as it is found in the Bible. The leaven is evil doctrine. The woman is a false prophetess who teaches and beguiles (Rev_2:20). Is it not significant that women have been the founders of several false cults? Forbidden by the Bible to teach in the church (1Co_14:34; 1Ti_2:12), some have defiantly taken the place of doctrinal authorities and have adulterated the food of God’s people with destructive heresies. J. H. Brookes says: If the objection is raised that Christ would not liken the kingdom of heaven to that which is evil, it is sufficient to reply that He likens the kingdom to that which includes both tares and wheat, which encloses both good and bad fish, which extends over a wicked servant (Mat_18:23-32), which admits into it a man who had not on a wedding garment, and who was lost (Mat_22:1-13).
Matthew 13:34
G. The Use of Parables Fulfills Prophecy (13:34, 35) Jesus spoke the first four parables to the multitude. The use of this teaching method by the Lord fulfilled Asaph’s prophecy in Psa_78:2 that the Messiah would speak in parables, uttering things kept secret from the foundation of the world. These features of the kingdom of heaven in its interim form, hidden until this time, were now being made known.
Matthew 13:36
H. Explanation of the Parable of the Tares (13:36-43) 13:36 The remainder of the Lord’s discourse was spoken to the disciples, inside the house. Here the disciples may represent the believing remnant of the nation of Israel. The renewed mention of the house reminds us that God has not rejected forever His people whom He foreknew (Rom_11:2). 13:37 In His interpretation of the wheat and tares parable, Jesus identified Himself as the sower. He sowed directly during His earthly ministry, and has been sowing through His servants in succeeding ages. 13:38 The field is the world. It is important to emphasize that the field is the world, not the church. The good seeds mean the sons of the kingdom. It might seem bizarre and incongruous to think of living human beings being planted into the ground. But the point is that these sons of the kingdom were sown in the world. During His years of public ministry, Jesus sowed the world with disciples who were loyal subjects of the kingdom. The tares are the sons of the wicked one. Satan has a counterfeit for every divine reality. He sows the world with those who look like, talk like, and, to some extent, walk like disciples. But they are not genuine followers of the King. 13:39 The enemy is Satan, the enemy of God and all the people of God. The harvest is the end of the age, the end of the kingdom age in its interim form, which will be when Jesus Christ returns in power and glory to reign as King. The Lord is not referring to the end of the church age; it leads only to confusion to introduce the church here. 13:40-42 The reapers are the angels (see Rev_14:14-20). During the present phase of the kingdom, no forcible separation is made of the wheat and the darnel. They are allowed to grow together. But at the Second Advent of Christ, the angels will round up all causes of sin and all evildoers and throw them into the furnace of fire, where they will weep and gnash their teeth. 13:43 The righteous subjects of the kingdom who are on earth during the Tribulation will enter the kingdom of their Father to enjoy the Millennial Reign of Christ. There they will shine forth as the sun; that is, they will be resplendent in glory. Again Jesus adds the cryptic admonition, He who has ears to hear, let him hear!This parable does not justify, as some mistakenly suppose, the toleration of ungodly people in a local Christian church. Remember that the field is the world, not the church. Local churches are explicitly commanded to put out of their fellowship all who are guilty of certain forms of wickedness (1Co_5:9-13). The parable simply teaches that in its mystery form, the kingdom of heaven will include the real and the imitation, the genuine and the counterfeit, and that this condition will continue until the end of the age. Then God’s messengers will separate the false, who will be taken away in judgment, from the true, who will enjoy the glorious reign of Christ on earth.
Matthew 13:44
I. The Parable of the Hidden Treasure (13:44) All the parables so far have taught that there will be good and evil in the kingdom, righteous and unrighteous subjects. The next two parables show that there will be two classes of the righteous subjects: (1) believing Jews during the periods before and after the Church Age; (2) believing Jews and Gentiles during the present age. In the parable of the treasure, Jesus compares the kingdom to treasure hidden in a field. A man finds it, covers it up, then gladly sells all he has and buys that field. We would suggest that the man is the Lord Jesus Himself. (He was the man in the parable of the wheat and tares, v. 37.) The treasure represents a godly remnant of believing Jews such as existed during Jesus’ earthly ministry and will exist again after the church is raptured (see Psa_135:4 where Israel is called God’s peculiar treasure). They are hidden in the field in that they are dispersed throughout the world and in a real sense unknown to any but God. Jesus is pictured as discovering this treasure, then going to the cross and giving all that He had in order to buy the world (2Co_5:19; 1Jo_2:2) where the treasure was hidden. Redeemed Israel will be brought out of hiding when her Deliverer comes out of Zion and sets up the long-awaited Messianic Kingdom. The parable is sometimes applied to a sinner, giving up all in order to find Christ, the greatest Treasure. But this interpretation violates the doctrine of grace which insists that salvation is without price (Isa_55:1; Eph_2:8-9).
Matthew 13:45
J. The Parable of the Pearl of Great Price (13:45, 46) The kingdom is also likened to a merchant seeking beautiful pearls. When he finds a pearl of unusually great value, he sacrifices all he has to buy it. In a hymn that says, I’ve found the Pearl of greatest price, the finder is the sinner and the Pearl is the Savior. But again we protest that the sinner does not have to sell all and does not have to buy Christ. We rather believe that the merchant is the Lord Jesus. The pearl of great price is the church. At Calvary He sold all that He had to buy this pearl. Just as a pearl is formed inside an oyster through suffering caused by irritation, so the church was formed through the piercing and wounding of the body of the Savior. It is interesting that in the parable of the treasure, the kingdom is likened to the treasure itself. Here the kingdom is not likened to the pearl but to the merchantman. Why this difference? In the preceding parable, the emphasis is on the treasureredeemed Israel. The kingdom is closely linked with the nation of Israel. It was originally offered to that nation and, in its future form, the Jewish people will be its principal subjects. As we have mentioned, the church is not the same as the kingdom. All who are in the church are in the kingdom in its interim form, but not all who are in the kingdom are in the church. The church will not be in the kingdom in its future form but will reign with Christ over the renewed earth. The emphasis in the second parable is on the King Himself and the tremendous price He paid to woo and win a bride that would share His glory in the day of His manifestation. As the pearl comes out of the sea, so the church, sometimes called the Gentile bride of Christ, comes largely from the nations. This does not overlook the fact that there are converted Israelites in it, but merely states that the dominant feature of the church is that it is a people called out from the nations for His Name. In Act_15:14 James confirmed this as being the grand purpose of God at the present time.
Matthew 13:47
K. The Parable of the Dragnet (13:47-50) 13:47, 48 The final parable in the series likens the kingdom to a sieve or dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered fish of every kind. The fishermen sorted out the fish, keeping the good in containers and discarding the bad. 13:49, 50 Our Lord interprets the parable. The time is the end of the age; that is, the end of the Tribulation period. It is the time of the Second Advent of Christ. The fishermen are the angels. The good fish are the righteous; that is, saved people, both Jews and Gentiles. The bad fish are the unrighteous; namely, unbelieving people of all races. A separation takes place, as we also saw in the parable of the wheat and tares (vv. 30, 39-43). The righteous enter the kingdom of their Father, whereas the unrighteous are consigned to a place of fire where there is wailing and gnashing of teeth. This is not the final judgment, however; this judgment takes place at the outset of the Millennium; the final judgment occurs after the thousand years are finished (Rev_20:7-15). Gaebelein comments on this parable as follows: The dragnet is let into the sea, which, as we have seen before, represents the nations. The parable refers to the preaching of the everlasting gospel as it will take place during the great tribulation (Rev_14:6-7). The separating of the good and bad is done by angels. All this cannot refer to the present time nor to the church, but to the time when the kingdom is about to be set up. The angels will be used, as is so clearly seen in the book of Revelation. The wicked will be cast into the furnace of fire and the righteous will remain in the earth for the millennial kingdom.
Matthew 13:51
L. The Treasury of Truth (13:51, 52) 13:51 When He had finished the parables, the Master Teacher asked His disciples if they understood. They replied, Yes. This may surprise us, or even make us slightly jealous of them. Perhaps we cannot answer yes so confidently. 13:52 Because they understood, they were obligated to share with others. Disciples are to be channels, not terminals of blessings. The twelve were now scribes trained for the kingdom of heaven; that is, teachers and interpreters of the truth. They were like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old. In the OT they had a rich deposit of what we might call old truth. In the parabolic teaching of Christ, they had just received what was completely new. From this vast storehouse of knowledge they should now impart the glorious truth to others.
Matthew 13:53
M. Jesus Is Rejected at Nazareth (13:53-58) 13:53-56 Having finished these parables, Jesus left the shores of Galilee and went to Nazareth for His last visit there. As He taught them in their synagogue, the people were astonished at His wisdom and His reported miracles. To them He was only the carpenter’s son. They knew His mother was Mary … and His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas … and His sistersthey were still living there in Nazareth! How could one of their own hometown boys say and do the things for which He had become so well known? This puzzled them, and they found it easier to cling to their ignorance than to acknowledge the truth. 13:57, 58 They were offended at Him. This prompted Jesus to point out that a genuine prophet is generally more appreciated away from home. His own district and His own relatives allowed their familiarity to breed contempt. Unbelief largely hindered the Savior’s work in Nazareth. He healed only a few sick folk there (cf. Mar_6:5). It was not because He could not do the works; man’s wickedness cannot restrain God’s power. But He would have been blessing people where there was no desire for blessing, filling needs where there was no consciousness of need, healing people who would have resented being told they were sick.