The Parables by the Sea

Mark 4:26-32; Matthew 13:44-50

GOLDEN TEXT: “Never man spake like this man.”—John 7:46

OUR lesson for today contains five parables spoken by our Lord and which He introduced in each case by saying that they illustrated the Kingdom of heaven. Many in the past have overlooked the fact that nearly all of the teachings of the Redeemer pertain to the Kingdom—His Messianic Kingdom. When He taught us to pray, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth even as it is in heaven,” He meant that we should have in mind God’s glorious promise that eventually, through Messiah’s Kingdom, ignorance, sin and death, will be overthrown, the willing and obedient of mankind will be released from these, and “every knee shall bow and every tongue confess” to the glory of God.

Our Lord’s teachings regarding the Kingdom have a direct relation to the great promise made to Abraham, “In thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” The Master’s teachings and the message which He commissioned His disciples to give in His name, is the gospel of the Kingdom—the message of coming glory, and the message that now God is selecting a little flock to be the spiritual seed of Abraham, joint-heirs with Jesus in the throne of that Kingdom. St. Paul refers to this in Galatians 3:29, saying, “And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

The majority of Jesus’ parables illustrating the Kingdom refer to the Kingdom class of the present time rather than to the Kingdom in its fully developed stage during the thousand years of His glory. All of God’s consecrated people, begotten of the Holy Spirit during this age—since Pentecost—constitute together the Kingdom class, the Kingdom in embryo—unfinished, undeveloped, incomplete.

The first illustration of our lesson is that God’s Kingdom in its present embryotic condition is a slow, gradual, methodical development, covering the entire period of this Gospel age. It is like seed cast into the ground, which gains its maturity after many days of varied experiences—then finally harvested.

The parable of the mustard seed appears to represent the Kingdom from the viewpoint of the world—as the nominal church, developed from the original little seed of the true gospel. From that little seed we have a great institution today with many denominational branches. But alas! its thrifty development has invited into its branches the fowls of the air, which the Lord elsewhere describes as representing the wicked one and his angels—Satan and his representatives—who of course should have no place in the church. Indeed, they would have no place in it, if the church were loyal and zealous enough, to proclaim only the true gospel and the way of self-denial.

The parable of the treasure hid in the field is not one of the parables which Jesus expounded. His people, therefore, are left to exercise their judgment of its meaning under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the light shed upon it by other Scriptures. Indeed, there might be more than one application of it correct. For instance, we might apply the parable to our Lord Jesus and say that He bought the whole world at the cost of all He had, and that He purchased the world because of the “treasure” which it contains. And that treasure might consist of a variety of treasures of different value—for instance, the church, the bride class, the Lord’s special treasure, and such of the world as will ultimately be blessed.

On the other hand some have preferred the thought that the great Teacher referred, not to Himself at all, but to those whom He instructed. He would then be recommending that these should view the Kingdom after the illustration of this parable, willingly investing all that they possess, in full consecration, in order to gain the great treasure of association with the Master in His glorious Kingdom of the future.

A very similar lesson is given us in the next parable of the pearl of great value, for which the one in the parable exchanged all that he possessed. The price of the Kingdom is our sacrifice, even unto death, and nothing less will secure it. Nor would any sacrifice that we could make secure a share in this Kingdom for us except as our sacrifice would first be made acceptable in God’s sight through the precious merit of our Redeemer’s sacrifice.

The parable of the fish net closely corresponds to that of the parable of the wheat and the tares, and emphasizes the fact that the Gospel age would close with a separation in which the suitable “fish” would he retained by the Master and the unsuitable, the mere professors, be cast again into the sea.

QUESTIONS:

What was the principal topic discussed by Jesus throughout His ministry?

What phase of the Kingdom is chiefly represented in our Lord’s parables?

What has been one of the factors contributing to the rapid growth of nominal Christianity?

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