_SOWERS OF SEED_ ‘A sower went forth to sow.’ Matthew 13:3 The parables, of which the text is one, do not seem to have been suggested by any immediate wants of Christ’s hearers: the difficulties with which they deal are such as were not likely to be felt by converts in the first enthusiasm of hop... [ Continue Reading ]
_PREACHER AND PEOPLE_ ‘Other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.’ Matthew 13:8 Preacher and people should be reminded by this parable that there is such a thing as a good soil, and good results... [ Continue Reading ]
_BLESSED EYES AND BLESSED EARS_ ‘Blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.’ Matthew 13:16 The senses of sight and hearing are avenues of knowledge and of pleasure. The capacity and disposition to receive heavenly illumination and intelligence, satisfaction and communion,... [ Continue Reading ]
_THE ENEMY IN THE FIELD_ ‘An enemy hath done this.’ Matthew 13:28 The general view of this parable gives us a scene of confusion, an intermixture of good and bad. The picture shows us a field in which two kinds of seed have been sown, the one by a friendly and the other by a hostile hand. And thi... [ Continue Reading ]
_GROWING TOGETHER_ ‘Let both grow together until the harvest.’ Matthew 13:30 Our Lord emphasises the final separation at the last between the wheat and the tares (Matthew 13:41). Meanwhile, both grow. Sin grows, and grace grows. I. SIN GROWS.—Of all figures in the picture-gallery of history, no... [ Continue Reading ]
_THE TREE FROM THE SEED_ ‘The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed … so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.’ Matthew 13:31 The truth which our Lord teaches by this parable is that His Church should rise from a small beginning and grow and spread gradu... [ Continue Reading ]
_THE POWER OF LEAVEN_ ‘The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.’ Matthew 13:33 This parable relates to the marvellous increase of the Kingdom of God, declaring its hidden working. I. MIGHTY IN OPERATION.—By th... [ Continue Reading ]
_WHAT WILL THE HARVEST BE?_ ‘The harvest is the end of the world.’ Matthew 13:39 The harvest is used here to denote the Judgment— I. THE SOUL.—In this world God has set each of us, as the farmer sows the seed-corn in the field. A soul _ grows_ as a seed grows, and God watches every soul which H... [ Continue Reading ]
_TREASURE AND MERCHANT-MAN_ ‘The kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field … is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls.’ Matthew 13:44 The two parables should be taken together. Two views of one subject:— I. LOOK AT EACH SEPARATELY. (_a_) The husbandman and the treasure.... [ Continue Reading ]
_THINGS NEW AND OLD_ ‘Things new and old.’ Matthew 13:52 The first thing which we notice in these verses (51, 52) is the striking question with which our Lord winds up the seven wonderful parables of this chapter. He said, ‘Have ye understood all these things?’ Personal application has been calle... [ Continue Reading ]
_THE SIN OF UNBELIEF_ ‘He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.’ Matthew 13:58 We see in these words the secret of the ruin of multitudes of souls! I. THOSE WHO WILL NOT BELIEVE.—They perish because they _ will not_ believe. There is nothing beside in earth or heaven that p... [ Continue Reading ]