Matthew 13:35

‘That it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet, saying, “I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden from of old (or ‘the foundation of the world').”

But to those whose hearts were opened the parables revealed wonderful truth. They revealed the things that had been hidden from of old, and made clear how they would come about thus fulfilling what the Psalmist had said.

Matthew now quotes Psalms 78:2 as ‘through the prophet'. The Psalms were also seen as prophesying along with the rest of Scripture. Here a more positive slant is given to parables. Their purpose is in order to reveal what is hidden, even from of old (or from the foundation of the world), that God is active in the world, and rules over all, that He continually delivered His people as at the Exodus, and that He will finally deliver His people and establish His Rule through the son of David (Psalms 78:69). The reference in the Psalm to the Exodus ties in with Matthew 2:15, and that He will save through the son of David with Matthew 1:1. Note that the purpose in the Psalm is enlightenment. ‘We will not hide them from their children, telling to the generation to come the praises of the Lord' (Psalms 78:4). Thus the ‘parables' in the Psalm indicated the revealing of the significance of saving history and of its final fulfilment in the Son of David to those who would receive it. And that is what Jesus is doing here. He is through parables revealing the triumph of Himself as the Son of David with authority over the Kingly Rule of Heaven, something which had only gradually been revealed. Note that from this point on Jesus is speaking to ‘the disciples', talking to God's sons. What ‘blinds' the unbeliever, illuminates the disciple.