to the last four parables, spoken inside the house, which, giving the inner meaning and

purpose, assure us of the final success and establishment of the kingdom of heaven.

What are the "three measures of meal"? (verse 33). This is yet another of Matthew's

"threes". We must not make the mistake of trying to find a spiritual equivalent of every

detail in a parable. All sorts of peculiar ideas result from this practice, and many have

been the guesses as to what the three measures represent. It may be that it was merely the

usual amount used to bake bread or other food, or it could refer to the evil doctrine of the

Pharisees, Sadducees and Herodians.

The teaching of the first four parables gives us the proclaiming of the Kingdom

message and the delay in its realization through the failure of Israel and the working of an

enemy, namely Satan. Not only this, instead of the small seed of Israel flourishing and

filling the earth with fruit, we find that through their apostasy the sovereignty changed

hands and was deposited with the Gentile nations.

Nebuchadnezzar was assured that God had made him "the head of gold" and given

him world wide power even though he was a pagan. This condition of things lasts until

"the fullness of the Gentiles comes in" as revealed through the apostle Paul in Rom.9:-

11: when Israel will be taken up by God again and "all Israel will be saved" (Rom. 11: 25-

The present "times of the Gentiles" are exceptional and only came into being because

of the gross defection of Israel. This stage is marked by the words of the parable "it

becometh a great tree and the birds lodged in its branches" (the agents of Satan). That

which should have been pre-eminently the kingdom of righteousness, becomes the

habitation of Satan and his angels. He is now the "god of this age" (II Cor. 4: 3, 4), "the

prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience"

(Eph. 2: 2). This will go on and work its course until the rise of Antichrist, his worldwide

deception and the general corruption of the visible witness for God which will finally be

dealt with by the glorious Second Advent of Him Who is "King of kings, and Lord of

lords" (Rev. 19: 11-20; see II Thess. 2: 7-10).

It is obvious then that the Lord, contrary to popular teaching, was not portraying the

permeating influence of the gospel of grace and the kingdom being set up as a

consequence.  Both in these first kingdom parables and in His prophetic teaching

(Matt.24:) the Lord makes it quite clear that the end of the age is one of apostasy and

world-wide trouble which can only be remedied by His Second Coming (Matt. 24: 11,

12, 21, 22, 24, 27-30). "When the Son of Man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?"

(Luke 18: 8), and the answer is certainly not yes!

Yet in spite of this, God has His treasure, as the next four parables show, and at last

the good seed of the kingdom, sown on good ground, will produce the fulfillment of His

great kingdom purposes.