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Satan's attempt to spoil the kingdom purpose will fail, as all else of creature craft must
do if directed against the Lord. The harvest time, however, has not yet taken place, that
is reserved until the consummation of the age. Matt. 24: 30, 31 gives us the
commencement of this great harvest.
"And they will see the Son of man coming upon the clouds of heaven, with great
power and glory. And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet, and they shall
gather together His chosen."
Much more could be said, but our space is limited. We believe that sufficient has
been produced from Scripture to assist the student in arriving at a true understanding of
this parable. The reader should bear in mind the opening words of the parable, "The
kingdom of the heavens has become like, &100:" The phase which the kingdom had taken
consequent upon Matt. 12: is here depicted. We shall have opportunity for dealing with
the closing words of the interpretation when we consider the corresponding parable of the
Drag Net.
May we be thankful for every exhibition of divine knowledge, wisdom and love,
over-ruling and defeating the enemy of truth, and may we ever seek to glorify the Lord
our God by fruitful lives, shunning, as we would poison, any approximation to the
dissembling and hypocritical spirit which is set forth under the figure of the "darnel."
The Mustard Tree.
pp. 79-83
A great deal of controversy has taken place concerning the true meaning of the
mustard plant mentioned in this parable. Some maintain that it does not refer to the plant
known to us as the mustard plant, but to another which is, strictly speaking, a tree. We
are quite unable to enter into this argument where learned men and botanists disagree.
For us, all that we need will be found in the Word itself, and to that we turn.
The statement of verse 31 of Matt. 13:, "The kingdom of the heavens is like to a grain
of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field," seems to indicate that we
have brought before us a plant which would be naturally sown in fields, and disposes of
the idea that it refers to a tree and not to the mustard plant--a herb. The difficulty which
some have in the statement of verse 32, "which indeed is the least of all seeds," is easily
removed by supplying the ellipsis from verse 31. The seed is the least of all seeds which
men sow in their fields.
Before considering the bearing of this parable upon the subject of the "mysteries of
the kingdom," we must refer to parallel uses of the figures here employed, in order to be
"thoroughly furnished." The word sinapi (mustard) occurs but five times in the N.T.
Matt. 13: 31, Mark 4: 31, and Luke 13: 19 are the passages wherein the parable of the
mustard seed is found; the two other references are Matt. 17: 20 and Luke 17: 6, where