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Matthew.
Mark.
Luke.
"Another parable put He before
"And He was saying, How shall
"He went on to say therefore,
them saying, The kingdom of the
we liken the kingdom of God, or
Whereunto is the kingdom of
heavens is like unto a grain of
in what parable shall we compare
God like? And whereunto shall I
mustard seed, which a man took
it? As a grain of mustard seed,
liken it? It is like unto a grain of
and sowed in his field, which
which when it is sown springeth
mustard seed, which a man took
indeed is less than all seeds, but
up and becometh greater than all
and cast into his garden, and it
when grown is greater than the
herbs, and produceth large
grew and became a (great) tree
herbs, and becometh a tree, so
branches, so that under the shade
and the birds of the heaven
that the birds of the heaven come
thereof the birds of the heaven
lodged among its branches."
and lodge among its branches."
may lodge."
The words "How shall we liken?" "Whereunto is the kingdom of God like?" in Mark
and Luke suggest that, humanly speaking, the analogy was difficult to frame. The
kingdom history had taken such a strange turn that it needed great skill and choice of
figures to illustrate the teaching. The first thing we notice is the smallness of the grain of
mustard seed. The kingdom purpose of God commenced with the call of one man,
Abram, and his descendants. God definitely told Israel that the people cast out of Canaan
were "seven nations greater and mightier than thou" (Deut. 7: 1). It is further said:--
"The Lord did not set His love upon you nor choose you because ye were more in
number than any people, for ye were the fewest of all people" (Deut. 7: 7).
"Thy fathers went down into Egypt threescore and ten persons; and now the Lord thy
God hath made them as the stars of heaven for multitude" (Deut. 10: 22).
Here we have the teaching of the words, "less than all the seeds." Let us now consider
the growth of this small company of people. Deut. 10: 22 has already told us that the
seventy sons became as the stars of heaven for multitude. This, however, was not
permanent. In between the promise of the unconditional covenant made by God in
Gen. 12: came the covenant of law and works of Sinai--"All that the Lord hath spoken
we will do." Thus in Deut. 27: and 28: we have blessings and cursings uttered
with reference to the law. The curses are terrible, and tell us of the removal of all the
privileges and blessings attaching to the chosen people. Among the judgments we note
the following:--
"And ye shall be left few in number, whereas ye were as the stars of heaven for
multitude; because thou wouldest not obey the voice of the Lord thy God"
(Deut. 28: 62).
Those who are acquainted with the history of Israel know how all these things came to
pass. First the ten tribes, and then the two, were removed from their land, and the
dominion given to Nebuchadnezzar. With this man commenced the "times of the
Gentiles"--"it became a tree." These times must run their destined course before "all
Israel shall be saved" (Rom. 11: 25, 26). This the apostle declares to be a "mystery," and
indeed it is related to the "mystery of the kingdom of the heavens" as recorded in
Matt. 13:
The dominion handed over to Nebuchadnezzar went the same way as it did with
Adam and with Israel. From the head of gold it degenerated by stages from silver to
brass, from brass to iron, and from iron to clay. We know that Babylon was succeeded