Mat 13:1-9 | KingComments | STEP | In this long chapter with its many parables we see Lord Jesus as the King-Prophet. In what He says, we see His Divine glory. No created being can see the coming ages and give a detailed description of future events. In the parables of this chapter, the Lord connects His second coming with His first and gives insight into the characteristic features of the time between the two comings. He Who has the heart of every human being under control, is the only One able to describe the future. In His prophetic discourse we see the great Immanuel. He opens His heart to His own and tells of the hidden working of God’s wisdom through Divine ways from the beginning of the world. He Who created the world has also planned the course of the ages. The incomprehensible greatness of the galaxies with its innumerable suns and systems shows His creation power. The ages, in which moral life is unfolded, show His wisdom and where He is working towards. Here, at the turning point of the ages, a point of passing into another age, in His Manhood, is the One Who has planned all of this. He Himself is the great Center of the universe and the course of ages. Everything is made by Him ( ; ). In Divine favor, He shares with His disciples old and new things from His treasure. This verse is the introduction to a chapter full of teaching about the change resulting from the Lord’s rejection. The first words, “that day”, characterize that rejection, for on ‘that day’ the hatred of the religious leaders has risen to its climax by the accusations we heard in the previous chapter. On “that day”, the Lord takes another place. He goes “out of the house” and sits “by the sea”. The house is a symbol of Israel, often referred to as “the house of Israel” ( ). The sea represents the nations who are often likened to the sea ( ; ). This change of environment shows that the Lord, after His rejection by Israel, addresses Himself to the nations. There is another change in this chapter that is the result of His rejection. He is going to use a new form of teaching. This new form is the use of parables. He is rejected and therefore now absent from the earth. That’s why the kingdom could not be established in the manner that the prophets proclaimed. He is in heaven. As a result, the kingdom of heaven has adopted a character that is completely new and about which the prophets in the Old Testament were not able to write. That new character is that the kingdom of heaven, instead of being openly established on earth, is now being established in secret. This new character, hidden in the Old Testament, will be presented by the Lord in seven parables. Seven is the number of perfection. In these seven parables He gives a complete picture of the kingdom in its hidden form. The first four parables belong together, as do the last three. The first four show the outward form of the kingdom. It has become a great system in which good and evil go hand in hand. The last three show the inward form. They show that there are valuable persons present in the kingdom. The Lord gives His teaching from the sea to the crowds standing on the beach. This emphasizes that there is a distance between Him and the people. This is symbolic for the place He occupies in heaven after His rejection and the relationship to His earthly people. From heaven He proclaims the gospel among the nations, but without forgetting His people. In the first days of Christendom we see that first the Jew, and only then the Greek, gets to hear the gospel. We see this in Paul’s ministry in the book of Acts. The bond between Christ and the nation of Israel has been broken, but His teaching to them continues.

‏ Matthew 13:1-9

Introduction

In this long chapter with its many parables we see Lord Jesus as the King-Prophet. In what He says, we see His Divine glory. No created being can see the coming ages and give a detailed description of future events. In the parables of this chapter, the Lord connects His second coming with His first and gives insight into the characteristic features of the time between the two comings. He Who has the heart of every human being under control, is the only One able to describe the future. In His prophetic discourse we see the great Immanuel.

He opens His heart to His own and tells of the hidden working of God’s wisdom through Divine ways from the beginning of the world. He Who created the world has also planned the course of the ages. The incomprehensible greatness of the galaxies with its innumerable suns and systems shows His creation power. The ages, in which moral life is unfolded, show His wisdom and where He is working towards.

Here, at the turning point of the ages, a point of passing into another age, in His Manhood, is the One Who has planned all of this. He Himself is the great Center of the universe and the course of ages. Everything is made by Him (Jn 1:1-3; Heb 1:1-2). In Divine favor, He shares with His disciples old and new things from His treasure.

Out of the House, by the Sea

This verse is the introduction to a chapter full of teaching about the change resulting from the Lord’s rejection. The first words, “that day”, characterize that rejection, for on ‘that day’ the hatred of the religious leaders has risen to its climax by the accusations we heard in the previous chapter.

On “that day”, the Lord takes another place. He goes “out of the house” and sits “by the sea”. The house is a symbol of Israel, often referred to as “the house of Israel” (Jer 31:27 ; 31 ; 33). The sea represents the nations who are often likened to the sea (Isa 17:12; Rev 17:15). This change of environment shows that the Lord, after His rejection by Israel, addresses Himself to the nations.

There is another change in this chapter that is the result of His rejection. He is going to use a new form of teaching. This new form is the use of parables. He is rejected and therefore now absent from the earth. That’s why the kingdom could not be established in the manner that the prophets proclaimed. He is in heaven. As a result, the kingdom of heaven has adopted a character that is completely new and about which the prophets in the Old Testament were not able to write. That new character is that the kingdom of heaven, instead of being openly established on earth, is now being established in secret.

This new character, hidden in the Old Testament, will be presented by the Lord in seven parables. Seven is the number of perfection. In these seven parables He gives a complete picture of the kingdom in its hidden form. The first four parables belong together, as do the last three. The first four show the outward form of the kingdom. It has become a great system in which good and evil go hand in hand. The last three show the inward form. They show that there are valuable persons present in the kingdom.

The Lord gives His teaching from the sea to the crowds standing on the beach. This emphasizes that there is a distance between Him and the people. This is symbolic for the place He occupies in heaven after His rejection and the relationship to His earthly people. From heaven He proclaims the gospel among the nations, but without forgetting His people. In the first days of Christendom we see that first the Jew, and only then the Greek, gets to hear the gospel. We see this in Paul’s ministry in the book of Acts. The bond between Christ and the nation of Israel has been broken, but His teaching to them continues.

The Parable of the Sower

Now He is rejected, not only does the nature of His teaching change, but also the nature of His service. He came to seek fruit in His vineyard Israel (Isa 5:1-7), but that fruit is not there because of the unfaithfulness of the people. Now that He has been rejected, His service no longer consists in seeking fruit, but in producing it. This is expressed in the first parable. This first parable is the starting point for all other parables. He shows that the kingdom is established as a result of sowing the Word of the kingdom and not as the fruit of obedience to the law of Moses.

The seed that the sower sows ends up on different types of soil:

1. The first type of soil is actually not even soil, but the public road that runs along the soil. Seed that ends up there, “beside the road”, cannot take root and becomes a prey for the birds. This seed disappears completely.

2. Other seed ends up on “rocky places”. There the seed can take root, but because of the many stones there is hardly any soil. The seed has too little soil to grow well. It shoots up too fast in the little bit of earth it has at its disposal. Because of the speed at which the seed shoots up, it doesn’t get a chance to really take root. When the sun rises, it turns out that the seed has no root and withers. Nothing remains of this seed either.

3. A third type of soil is good in itself, but there are also a lot of weeds, which leaves no room for the seed to grow. It falls “among the thorns”, which overgrow and suffocate the seed. Neither does this seed produce any fruit.

4. There is also seed that falls “on the good soil”. There it can grow freely and produce fruit. There is seed that produces one hundred percent fruit, but there is also seed that still experiences some or even considerable impediment to growth. This seed does not give one hundred percent, but only sixty percent, or even less, thirty percent fruit.

The Lord concludes the parable with the familiar words “he who has ears, let him hear”. With this He points out the responsibility of those listening to act upon what has been heard.