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MARK 4:10-20.
LUKE 8:9-15.
MATTHEW 13:10-23.
"The mysteries of the kingdom
"The mystery of the kingdom of
"The mystery of the kingdom of
of heaven."
God."
God."
"The word of the kingdom."
"The sower soweth the word."
"The seed is the Word of God."
"The wicked one."
"Satan."
"The devil."
"This is he which received seed
"These are they by the wayside."
"Those by the wayside."
by the wayside."
"He that received seed into
"They on the rock are they
stony places, the same is he that
which, when they hear, receive
Similar to Matthew.
heareth the word, and soon with
the word with joy; and these have
joy receiveth it; yet hath he not
no root, which for a while
root in himself, but dureth for a
believe, and in time of temptation
while; for when tribulation or
fall away."
persecution ariseth because of the
word, by and by he is offended."
"He also that receiveth the seed
"And that which fell among
among the thorns. . . . the care
thorns. . . . choked with cares,
Similar to Matthew but add.
of
this
world,
and
the
riches, and pleasures of this life,
--"the lust of other things entering
deceitfulness of riches, choke the
and bring no fruit to perfection."
in."
word,
and
he
becometh
unfruitful."
"but he that received the seed
"But that on the good ground are
"And these are they which are
into the good ground is he that
they, which in an honest and
sown on good ground, such as
heareth
the
word,
and
good heart, having heard the
hear the word and receive it."
understandeth it; which also
word, keep it, and bring forth
beareth fruit, and bringeth forth,
fruit with patience."
some an hundred-fold, some sixty
and some thirty."
Such is the divine interpretation. We are not called upon to speculate, but to believe.
Those to whom these words were first uttered knew the Scriptures of the Old Testament
sufficiently well to follow the figurative allusions far more clearly and with greater
suggestiveness than we are able to. Moreover, they had no epistle of church doctrine in
their minds. We have, and because we will not discern between the things which differ,
we introduce confusion into God's Word by our traditional ideas. Let us keep church and
kingdom separate; let us not read into Matt. 13: that which was not revealed until years
after, then we shall be able to understand something of the "mysteries of the kingdom of
the heavens." The kingdom of God is wider in its scope than the kingdom of the
heavens. The latter expression has reference to that Millennial kingdom, when the
kingdoms of this world shall be ruled by heaven's King, when Dan. 2: 44 shall be
fulfilled; but the term, "the kingdom of God," though wider than the kingdom of heaven,
is not used in the Gospels to refer to the church of the present dispensation, for at that
time the present dispensation was a secret hidden by God, whereas the secrets of
Matt. 13: are to some extent explained.