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There is need for us to repeat that which we gave in our last article, for the exclusively
Jewish and kingdom setting of Matt. 13: is evident to every candid reader (cf.
Matt. 10: 5, 6; and Matt. 15: 24, which are on either side of Matt. 13:).
The parable tells us of the secret course of the purpose relative to the kingdom. It
depicts the apparent failure of the early ministry, but shows in the fourth ground its
fruitful consummation. All who are pictured here under the imagery of the various
sowings are those who hear and receive the word of God, particularly the word of God
relative to the kingdom (Matt. 13: 19; Luke 8: 11). This cannot refer to the heathen
nations, at least not until we reach the fourth ground; for during the ministry of Christ the
word of the kingdom was confined to the limits of the Land of Promise:--
"Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not;
but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as ye go, preach, saying, The
kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matt. 10: 5-7).
Perhaps we ought to note some things which the Lord does not say. He does not say,
"The sower is the Son of man"; it is merely "a sower," in the parable; and in the
interpretation nothing is said of the sower other than the fact that "the sower soweth the
word." We have two expositions before us, both of which emphasize that the "sower was
the Son of man."
Again, it does not say, "the field is the world." Luke tells us that the various sowings,
in various kinds of ground, had reference to the hearts of those who heard the word.
When we come to examine the parable of the Wheat and Tares, then we are distinctly
told that the sower is the Son of man, and that the field is the world, but if we introduce
these into the parable of the Sower, we spoil the intended teaching.
The "seed of the kingdom of heaven" was sown by John the Baptist, the Lord Jesus
Christ, and the apostles during the Acts period; this ministry, as we know, was humanly
speaking a failure, for although they proclaimed the near approach of the kingdom of
heaven, that kingdom is now in abeyance. The kingdom purposes, however, cannot fail,
hence prophecy clearly indicates a further preaching and sowing of this same gospel seed,
which will be fruitful as depicted in the fourth ground. This is one of the "secrets" or
"mysteries" of the kingdom of the heavens. Following hard upon the rejection of the
Lord Himself (Matt. 12:) comes the revelation of the whole course of kingdom progress.
The Lord, with wonderful fitness, depicts the conditions which were predominant in
relation to the four periods of kingdom ministry.
The first ministry mentioned in the New Testament is that of John the Baptist. He
preached the good news of the kingdom, and baptism unto remission of sins. Each
ministry, however, had something of the four kinds of ground represented among its
hearers, but the special characteristic of John's sowing was that it fell upon hearts which,
like the wayside, had become hardened with continual treading and tradition, and
consequently very few believed his message. Those who heard him "understood not,"
and the Lord tells us that the Wicked One "caught away that which was sown in their
hearts."