Mat 13:15-24 | PNT

Matthew 13:15-24

Desired to see [those things] which ye see. The prophets and righteous had longed for the coming of Christ. His disciples enjoyed it. Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower. In order to understand the parable we must listen to the explanation given in Mt 13:18-23. Christ is the great Sower, and all whom he sends forth to preach are sowers under him. The seed sown is His Word, the Gospel of the Kingdom. The soil is human hearts. Four kinds of human hearts are described: (1) The "wayside" hearer; the light, flippant, indifferent hearer upon whom no impression is produced. (2) The "stony" hearer; the heart that exhibits an evanescent feeling at the appeal of the gospel; but upon whom no permanent impression is made. (3) The "thorny soil"; the heart that takes in the Word, but is so full of worldly cares that these presently gain the mastery. This describes the world-serving hearer. (4) The "good soil"; the good and honest heart; the heart that receives and retains the truth. In such a heart the seed will grow and the new life will be manifest. Three things, then, are needful: (1) A Sower. (2) Good Seed, the pure word of God. (3) A good and "honest" heart. A dishonest man cannot be converted until he casts out his dishonesty. He who cavils at and deceitfully entreats the word of God will not be profited. The kingdom of heaven is likened. The object of all parables in this connection is to explain various features and principles of the kingdom of heaven.

Unto a man which sowed. It is important to note what the kingdom of heaven is likened to. It is not to the "field" in which the tares and wheat were both sown, nor to the "enemy" who sowed the tares, but to "the man who sowed the good seed". The kingdom does what the Sower is represented as doing. It sows the good seed.

Good seed. It is declared in Mt 13:19 that the seed is the "word of the kingdom", and in Mt 13:38 that the "good seed" are "the children of the kingdom". These are those in whose heart the good seed has fallen, and their new lives, as children of the kingdom, are the fruit of the good seed.

In his field. The controversy has turned upon what the Savior represents by the field. (1) It is not the kingdom, or church, for this is represented by "the man that sowed good seed in his field". (2) It is the place where the good seed is sown by the Son of man, or through his agency; in other words, the place where the gospel is preached to men. (3) Mt 13:38 states emphatically that "the field is the world".