Matthew 13:1–23

At the close of the previous chapter our Lord disowned all the natural ties which bound Him to Israel. I am speaking only of His bringing it out as teaching. In terms of history, the moment of the final break with them was the cross. But in terms of His ministry, if we may say so, the break happened, and He signalled it now. He took advantage of a reference to His mother and brothers to say who His real kindred were. They were no longer those connected with Him after the flesh. The only family He could own now were those who did the will of His Father in heaven. He recognises nothing but the tie formed by the word of God received into the heart and obeyed.

Up to this time the house of God was connected with Israel. There God dwelt, as far as this could be said of the earth; He counted it as His habitation. But Jesus went out of the house, and sat by the seaside. We all know what the sea stands for in the symbolic language of the Old and New Testaments. It represents masses of men, roving here and there outside, not under the settled government of God.

He leaves the house, to sit by the seaside. Let anyone compare the picture of the woman who "is seated on many waters" in Revelation 17:1, and he will find the meaning of this. The angel interprets it for us in that chapter: "The waters that you saw, where the prostitute is seated, are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages." So here the Lord leaves the house, the place of recognised natural relationship. He takes His place, as it were, in the highway of the world's trade, which is what the sea is.

He separated Himself from the multitude. While in the first part of this Gospel He moves among the crowds, here He takes His place alone. There on the seashore stands the crowd, and He is alone, some way out — no one can reach Him by touch now.

He leaves the house, goes to the seaside, no longer seeking fruit in His vineyard, which bore none but bad — sowing that from which fruit was to come. The kingdom of heaven in its mystery, with an absent king, takes the place of Messiah upon earth.

The seven parables unfolded there bring in the idea of an entirely new departure and manner of activity on God's part. The law addressed itself to man as though God had until then been seeking to get something from man. He got nothing. Now that day was over, and a new kind of ministry was coming. God was going to put something into man, instead of trying to get something out of him — that was the principle of law: "A sower went out to sow." And "the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven" take the place of the kingdom in open display. That open display is put off to a day of glory still to come.

And now the Lord begins to speak in parables. This is deeply significant of the moment, because this way of speaking was one kind of judgment upon Israel... The Lord tells us Himself that He was now speaking in parables to fulfil the word of the prophet: "You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive." Each parable had its own secret; but it was not given to Israel to know it. The Lord had a people whom these parables would instruct — instruct in mysteries, mysteries of the kingdom; but they left Israel in darkness.

Up to this time the house of God was connected with Israel. There God dwelt, as far as this could be said of the earth; He counted it as His habitation. But Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea... The very action of our Lord showed that a very widespread testimony was coming... The Holy Spirit here gives us seven connected parables, all brought together into one consistent system, to give a complete account of the new order of things about to begin — Christianity and the Christian world, the true as well as the false.

Israel is seen as set aside because of unbelief. The Lord went out of the house — a picture of Israel's house — and sat by the seaside. The sea pictures the Gentile nations (Rev. 17:15). So in Chapter 13 we can expect the teaching of a new era: the gospel going out to all the world. Because of great crowds gathered to hear Him, He preaches from a boat to His audience on the shore of the lake.

So He leaves the house, the sphere of natural family ties, and takes His place by the sea. The sea is the picture of man in the restlessness and barrenness of nature — man apart from God, and so the Gentiles. The gathering crowd does not hold Him back; it hurries His departure. He gets into a boat and sits down there — taking His place apart from them for good.

He separated Himself from the crowd. In the first part of this Gospel He moves among the crowds; here He takes His place alone. What a scene it must have been! There on the seashore the multitude, and He alone some way off from the shore — No one can reach Him by touch now. All is significant. Then, when all eyes hung upon His lips, He began to speak.

And now, in the same way, the Lord begins to speak in parables. This is full of meaning for that moment, because this way of speaking was one form of judgment upon Israel... They had their own secret, each of them; but it was not given to Israel to know it. The Lord had a people whom the parables would teach — teach them mysteries, the mysteries of the kingdom. But the parables left Israel in darkness.

On the shore of the lake of Galilee the Lord spoke four parables where the crowd could hear: the sower, the weeds, the mustard tree, and the leaven. Inside the house, alone with His disciples, He explained the parable of the weeds... In parables to the crowd the Lord gave the outward character of the kingdom of the heavens, as men would see it. Its aspect from God's point of view He kept for the special instruction of His disciples.

He leaves the house. That is a sign, I do not doubt, of the immense change in the ways of God. He sits in a boat on the sea and presents Himself as a sower — that is, He no longer seeks fruit, but carries with Him into this world what was to produce it.

This is the first time the word parable occurs in the New Testament. The disciples, struck by this method of teaching, asked the Lord: "Why do you speak to them in parables?" (v. 10). The Lord's answer is telling. It confirms that the teaching of the parables of the kingdom of heaven relates to the rejection of the king… This is solemn indeed. They could not see because they had refused to see.

The identity of the sower is not difficult to clear up. In explaining the second parable our Lord says: "He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man." Our Lord Himself is the Sower. He came with the precious seed, the fine wheat, and of course He Himself is the grain of wheat. The seed He sows can only bear fruit as it falls on good ground. In the ground it dies, and out of death comes the fruit… We would take this parable in the first sense to apply to the days of our Lord on the earth. In a wider sense we must take it as a picture of the whole age, while He is absent from the earth and the Kingdom is in the hands of men. The sowing He began continues still, and the result of sowing is likewise the same.

The Saviour likened Himself to a sower of seed (Matt. 13:3–8). This marks a new departure in the ways of God with man. In the earlier ages of the world's history God had been looking for fruit from man, above all from Israel. He had every right to do so. But He sought it in vain, because flesh is evil beyond cure… God no longer looks for fruit from man. His present action is to sow the good seed of the gospel, and so produce His own fruit. This work has been proceeding ever since the Son of God came to earth.

Mark calls the seed simply the word, with no qualification. In Luke we read something more exact: "The seed is the word of God." This phrase states the divine origin of the word… But in Matthew we have not the general term but the specific one. The seed is there described as the "word of the kingdom." This phrase covered the subject of the word, while that of Luke looked to its Author.

The seed was pure; it was the word of God. There could be no doubt about its power to grow… So wherever it fell, the only hindrance to a full crop would be the condition of the ground — in other words, the heart of the person it might come to. Men might think of blaming the Word for the apparent failure of the work. Against such thoughts the Lord would warn us… All who preach or teach may make sure that it is the word of God they are using. They can count on it being enough, as the Holy Spirit applies it, to do a divine work in the hearts and consciences of men.

The first parable is not a representation of the kingdom, but of the work by which the kingdom is formed. All the other parables in the chapter rest on it… The seed falls on four kinds of ground, and in only one does it bring forth fruit… How empty is the hope that preaching the gospel everywhere would bring blessing everywhere! … Gentiles as well as Jews were to hear the word of the kingdom.

The very fact that Christ came as the sower proved that Israel was set aside. If He had still been coming to Israel as His vineyard, He would have come looking for fruit from the vine He planted long ago. He had already come to Israel, looking for fruit and finding none. Now He comes in the new character of the sower, which is a completely different thing. He comes into an empty world, where there was nothing, and He starts a fresh work.

Here the sowing produces nothing at all. The seed falls on a hard, closed heart. It does not even sprout. Man's spiritual enemy carries it off at once. None of the blame for this failure belongs to the Sower or to the seed. Both are perfect, without a fault of any kind. But the ground was hard and beaten down, never ploughed, and the birds of the air were watching to steal the good seed.

It is a solemn thing to read even of a man like this that the word was "sown in his heart" (v. 19). That does not mean he was converted. He does not even "understand." But why? Because, like the path, the ground it is sown on is trodden too hard for the seed to sink in. The seed lies out in the open in front of the birds of heaven, almost inviting the tempter to "catch it away." There are many souls like this. They are taken up with things that harden them and deaden them to everything else — business or pleasure, lawful or lawless.

The "wayside" hearers are those who hear, but the word never reaches their conscience. It is like seed that falls on the hard road and never sinks below the surface. The birds of the air can eat such seed without trouble. Satan can take away what held only passing interest for the mind and never touched the conscience.

Birds are used as symbols of evil agents. In the dream of Pharaoh's baker, the birds ate the baked goods he was carrying on his head (Gen. 40:17). In the parable of the Sower, Christ explains that the birds which ate the seed by the path stand for "the wicked one" (Matt. 13:4, 19). In the parable of the Mustard Seed, the kingdom of heaven becomes a great system with roots in the earth, and the birds of the air shelter under it (Matt. 13:31-32). The Greek word is the same in both parables: πετεινόν.

Birds you never saw a moment before appear and carry off crumbs thrown on the ground. In the same way the enemy takes away the seed that was sown, because the hearer did not care for it.

But is this a question of mental capacity, of intellectual understanding? Not at all. The Lord says the word was "sown in the heart." It aimed itself at the conscience, and the hearer could accept it or reject it. But the heart would not have it and turned against it. "And does not understand it" means "he would not understand or receive it."

The man who heard it is no less guilty. What was sown in his heart fitted every need — man's nature and man's condition.

It is rocky ground, not stony: bedrock, with a slight layer of earth over it. In it the seed grows fast, but only at the surface. That is the very thing that destroys it a little while later. At first the rock works like a hot-house: "immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil." Then the sun grew hotter and scorched it. And because it had no root, it withered away.

There was a more hopeful appearance in this case. The word was received, but the ground was rocky; there was no depth of earth. Appearances came very quickly — "immediately they sprang up." There is little or no sense of sin. Everything is taken in far too readily. "The plan of salvation" may be thought excellent. There may be no denying that his mind has been enlightened. But such a person has never measured his awful condition in God's sight. The good word of God is tasted, but the ground is rocky. Conscience has not been properly exercised. Whereas, in a real work of heart, conscience is the soil in which the word of God takes effect. There can never be a real work of God without a sense of sin.

Here it is the nature of the ground that is at fault. With the hearer beside the path, you could argue that circumstances made him what he was. The traffic over that ground had packed it hard. Here it was the nature of the ground itself. The prophet — or rather, God through him — speaks of a "heart of stone" (Ezekiel 36:26). Beyond question, that is exactly what is pictured here. Yet there is earth as well, a surface responsiveness which promises a great deal at the start.

In the next class of hearers, the stony ground illustrates the opposition of the flesh. And for this purpose it is pictured, not at its worst, but at its best... Here is not the natural man's rejection of the Word, but his reception of it. Yet there is no more real fruit than in the first case.

Some also received the word with joy. This was proof that the conscience was untouched. When the conscience is reached, the result is anything but joy — until forgiveness is known. The feelings may be stirred for a time, and the word listened to with a joy that will give way to sorrow. The reason truth is taken up so lightly with joy is that there is no root, and so it is received in joy and given up in trouble.

Everything is fine with those who receive the word with joy but have no root, while they live at ease in the world. They produce fruit as fair and promising as any seen in the church. But then comes worldly loss and persecution for confessing Christ. When trials and afflictions and the cross meet them on their way, they stumble. These are the scorching sun that withers the seed and all its fruit.

The importance of this process in the soul cannot be overestimated. The lack of it is the secret of so much of the shallow profession all around us. The seed gets no deep root in unbroken ground. The deeper the furrow made by the ploughshare of conviction, the deeper the root, and the more abundant the fruit in later days.

It is rocky ground, not stony: bed-rock with a slight layer of earth over it. In that thin soil the seed grows fast, but only near the surface. The very thing that destroyed it a little later was what first produced this hot-house growth: "immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil." Later the sun grew hotter and scorched it. Because it had no root, it withered away.

In the next case the word is received at once with joy. That tends to prove the heart will not keep it, for the conscience was hardly reached. A conscience touched by the word makes a man serious. He sees himself in the presence of God, and that is always a serious thing, however much His grace attracts him or His goodness gives him hope. If the word has not reached the conscience, there is no root. He received the word for the joy it gave; when it brings trouble, he gives it up.

All is well with those who receive the word with joy but have no root, while they live at ease in the world. They produce fruit as fair and promising as any seen in the church. But then loss in the world and persecution come on them for confessing Christ. When trials and afflictions and the cross meet them on their way, they are offended. These are the scorching sun that withers the seed and all its fruit.

Normally the sun's rays would have driven the seed to root deeper and firmer, as the root struck downwards in search of moisture. Here the heat withered it instead, and hurried the growth to its total destruction.

In this case the seed sprang quickly into life and showed very rapid growth. But the burning sun beat down on these lush young plants. They were so scorched that they withered and died. There was a great deal of green stalk and leaf on display, but no matching root development. So at the crucial moment, when they needed it most, they "lacked moisture" (Luke 8:6), and they withered away. They had no underground connection with springs or streams of water, such as the tree of the first Psalm had.

So there is no root in the man himself; Christ is not his real and great necessity. Therefore, "when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away." This is the religion of the flesh, of sentiment, of unreality. This is its end. It lacks the sign and seal of a work that is truly divine — permanence. It "lasts for a while." "I perceive that whatever God does endures forever" (Ecclesiastes 3:14).

Notice the words, "immediately receives it with joy." There is no deep work of conscience, no moral judgment of self or of sin. As a result there is no depth of root, no power of endurance… We should ponder with the greatest care how these expressions hang together: "immediately, with joy," "no root," "withered away." A person may take in the plan of salvation with the mind only, with no spiritual work in the conscience. That is a great danger. Such a reception often comes with the most joyful emotions. It stirs the natural feelings, but the truth has not entered the heart. The Word has cut no furrow.

Here the ground is already occupied with something else, and something that is native to the soil as well. The thorns were there before the seed fell among them. So much so that Matthew takes no account of the seed's apparent growth at all — only of the thorns. Luke mentions that growth only to show that the flourishing thorns choked the seed.

In the thorny ground hearers, the roots of thorns already filled the ground before the good seed fell into their hearts. Those roots are the desires for the things of this life, for riches and pleasures. They sprang up and choked the word. Although the roots were already in the heart, they did not spring up until the good seed was sown there. The heart may not show how firmly present things grip it. No one may even realise it, until the word of God comes and tests it.

"Other seeds fell among thorns." There you have the world. The Lord says, "the cares of this age" — that is the first thing mentioned. Then "the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things," or "pleasures of life." Those are the three things mentioned in Mark and Luke.

Poverty and riches, as Agur long ago noted (Prov. 30:8-9), are seen here as alike unfavourable to spiritual life. Yet riches may entice the poor, and care may weigh heavily upon the prosperous rich man. The deceitfulness of riches is so great a snare that the Lord said elsewhere a rich man can hardly enter the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 19:23). But He was careful to keep this from meaning that salvation itself differs for different classes of people. Everyone who realises his need of salvation belongs to one class only: "Christ died for sinners" covers every case.

The influence of present things on eternal things is not openly hostile, as affliction and persecution were in the previous class. But it is just as deadly, and far more dangerous, because it works so quietly. The thorns were growing too near the seed. A mile away it would not have mattered. Because they were close, they could secretly and effectively rob the good seed of the light, air, moisture and nourishment it needed from the soil.

The Lord shows here how utterly impossible it is to produce fruit for God while the heart is occupied with the world. In Luke the whole range of worldly influences is shown — its cares, its riches, its pleasures. The three combined, or any one of them, may so fill the heart that the word of God does nothing in it. It falls on the ear. The mind may even quietly agree with it. Yet it produces no saving faith in the soul and no fruit in the life, because there is no purpose of heart for God and no break with the world.

We all know that since the fall the ground produces thorns and briars. People have tried many methods to get rid of them. Experience has taught the farmer that there is only one way to do it. He may plough and harrow, but for every root he breaks, two plants will grow up, and his field will become a briar patch. Let him instead sow the field with grass seed, and as the grass grows up it will drive out the briars. This is overcoming evil with good... Let the positive things of Christ fill the heart. Let the word of Christ dwell in us richly. Then we will have little room and less desire for the lusts of the flesh.

The Saviour likened Himself to a sower of seed (Matt. 13:3-8). This marks a new turn in God's ways with man. In earlier ages God had looked to man for fruit, and to Israel above all. He had every right to do so. But He looked in vain, for the flesh is evil beyond cure... God no longer looks for fruit from man. He now sows the good seed of the Gospel, and so produces His own fruit.

The sower here is the Lord Himself, yet out of four casts of the seed, three are unsuccessful. Only in the last case does the seed bear ripe fruit. Even there the result is mixed and held back — "some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty." Natural things still hinder fruitfulness, more or less.

Someone may ask why the hearts of some are compared to good ground, when Scripture teaches that every heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. It is not because there is anything good in them by nature. Only the facts are given here, not the cause behind them. We simply see the preaching of the word and the receiving of it.

We are not told what has made it good. But if we have the devil, nature, and the world in the first three parables, what influence is left? There is nothing but the Holy Spirit. Today we badly need to say that the plough must come before the seed-basket. What makes the heart good? He who has gone out to plough the unbroken ground and sow the seed.

This group alone describes true believers, and all of them bear fruit, though the Lord names three different measures. Thirty-fold is not large, but it is fruit; sixty-fold is more fruit, and one hundred-fold is much fruit (John 15:2-5).

In the other cases the power of Satan and the attractions of the world kill the growth completely. Here they only reduce the amount of fruit produced.

If all that is in the natural heart hates and rejects the word, why does it bear fruit here? Our Lord Himself tells us at the start of John 15: "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser." That is why the seed takes root in any heart and produces fruit. God values and loves every branch of the true vine so much that He Himself stoops to be their vinedresser. First He gives them the power by which the seed takes root and grows. Then, when it becomes a branch in Christ, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.

Does the difference come from faithfulness or from opportunity? The Lord does not take up the question here. But other scriptures show that God will take both into account in the great Day of Rewards.

Is this difference of order a mere accident? No, it is designed, and there is a divine purpose in it... the order of the words in Matthew points to the decline of the whole company of people who profess faith — yes, even in the fruit-bearing of the good seed. This is not through any defect in the good seed, which is the Word, but through some bad quality in the good ground.

The suggestion that an age running to its end may account for the falling numbers will hardly fit here... Even so, may our hearts long to prove in full the work of God in our souls.

Even where the heart does not refuse the truth, but receives it outwardly, it can abandon it just as quickly. The same will that makes a man gladly receive the gospel makes him drop it in the face of difficulties. But in some cases the word does produce blessed effects. It fell on good ground and brought forth fruit in different degrees. "Who has ears to hear, let him hear." This is a solemn warning to souls. They must look carefully at whether or not they produce according to the truth they have received.

While He was here on earth, the Lord often cried, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." That is, the one who has an inward ear — an ear opened by the Holy Spirit to listen to the messages given and to receive them.

It is an ear to hear. It is the very lowest qualification. It is not, Can you work? Can you do anything? Israel in the wilderness had no ear, and was overthrown; so will you be also if you have none. God says: Does My word have any entrance into your hearts? Have you gained any blessing from anything I have ever said to you? Here is My challenge to you: "He who has an ear, let him hear."

He ended it with the solemn words, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." Having ears to hear, or not having them, would show at once whether a man belonged "within" or "without." Most of His listeners thought it was a pretty story, pleasant to the ear. They left it there, which showed they were outside. Others, including the disciples, were not content with this. They pushed further to reach its inner meaning. They belonged to the inside.

It is not the law laid down to an ordered people on penalty of death. It is the word, wherever received in faith, to produce fruit. The great principle the Lord introduced when He was here is individual responsibility. This He repeats from on high. The kingdom, when set up, in no way weakens it, as we learn here. The church, as we know from elsewhere, brought in the communion of saints, shared submission, and shared action. Even so, God never allows anyone to give up individual responsibility.

"He who has ears to hear" answers, in principle, to "The sower went out to sow." He spoke it to Israelites, but not to them as a nation in a fixed position. He spoke it to the gracious work going on in their own minds and souls. But in principle, whoever had ears, this being so, it applied to him and was for his profit too; and here any Gentile, or anyone whose ear God opened, came in. It stands as a solemn warning on the sowing of the seed: everything is ruined, and God is acting in grace, taking these pains before judgment falls.

It was a summons to the individual to free himself from the heedless mass. The Lord made this appeal to His people on earth. He repeated the same cry to each of the seven churches in Asia: "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." In the middle of general church decline, the Lord calls for individual faithfulness in paying attention to His word and His warning.

"The disciples came up to Him and said, Why do You speak to them in parables?" This question came right after He had finished this first parable. They had never heard a parable from His lips. Before this, He had spoken to the people and their leaders in simple words that everyone could easily understand. Now, for the first time, He said something they could not grasp. It was veiled. The answer our Lord gives is deeply solemn, because it announces the judgment upon Israel.

The prophet had said, "Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness" — here the King is rejected. Yet if they rejected Him, grace still goes on, and flows out to the Gentiles. The Lord had closed Jewish relationships, and spoken at the end of chapter 12 of a new family, a new relationship formed by the word of God. So He leaves the house, goes to the sea, and instead of a king reigning, it is "Behold, a sower went out to sow."

The same parable would be just like the cloud of Israel in a former day — full of light to those within, full of obscurity to those outside. So it is with the sayings of our Lord. The crisis with unbelieving Israel was so solemn now that it was not His intention to give clearer light. Conscience was gone. They had the Lord among them, bringing in full light, and He was refused, especially by the religious leaders. He had now broken with them: here was the clue to His conduct. … The truth stayed hidden from the crowd, because they had already rejected the clearest possible proofs that Jesus was the Messiah of God.

The Lord's answer is telling. It confirms that the teaching of the parables of the kingdom of heaven ties directly to the rejection of the King. This was a case of "judicial blindness." … This is solemn indeed. They could not see because they had refused to see.

This does not mean God hid these things from them because He did not want them converted. In fact, if people would only admit their ignorance and ask in earnest, they too would be converted and find forgiveness of sins. Those who chose to stay ignorant would remain that way.

A parable, then, especially in its more formal form, stated divine truth under the cover of an illustration. Only those who were truly hungry for the truth would look inside. For them, there would be no difficulty. … But this speaking in parables suggests a moral distance, a separation between the Lord and the mass of the people. If they were to grasp His teaching, they had to want to.

The mystery is no longer "hidden in God" — it is disclosed. You must always keep this in mind when you read about the mystery: it is now revealed, and nothing is left in the dark. The secret is set out in the light of God, and the simplest Christian is expected to receive it. So Christ said to His disciples, "To you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven." … Can any words do more to clear away the common idea that a mystery is something we cannot understand?

The same parable would be just like the cloud of Israel long ago — full of light to those inside, full of darkness to those outside. So it is with the sayings of our Lord. The crisis with unbelieving Israel was so solemn that He did not intend to give clearer light. Conscience was gone. They had the Lord among them, bringing in full light, and they refused Him — above all the religious leaders. He had now broken with them: here is the clue to His conduct. It stayed hidden from the crowd, because they had already rejected the clearest possible proofs that Jesus was the Messiah of God.

This was a case of "judicial blindness." The Lord quotes Isaiah to show it. That people's heart had grown dull. They barely heard with their ears, and they had shut their eyes. This is solemn indeed. They could not see because they had refused to see.

The mystery is no longer "hid in God"; God has disclosed it. Always keep this in mind when you read about the mystery: it is now revealed and nothing is left in the dark. God sets the secret out in His own light, and the simplest Christian is expected to receive it. So Christ said to His disciples, "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven." All the other mysteries of God are made known in the same way. Could anything more completely clear away the common idea that a mystery is something no one can understand, and that godly people dare not look into?

In Scripture the word mystery does not point to what is mysterious, the way people use the word. It presents some distinctive truth that God has disclosed for our understanding. The New Testament holds many such mysteries, and what they contain is there to enlighten the saints. But only those with faith can profit by these divine unveilings. Only the faithful are let into their truths. Only those who have the Spirit of God have the capacity and the power to grasp the mind of God revealed in this way. God wants to bring you and me into His secrets: do we want to know them?

We have not had the word "mysteries" before in connection with the kingdom of heaven. The testimony of the prophets about the kingdom had no mystery about it. This comes as a result of Israel rejecting Christ. So notice, in verse 35, that all this stayed secret until now.

While the King is rejected His kingdom cannot be a public affair. When it is public, the kingdom of heaven will be on open display: the thousand-year reign of Christ. Meanwhile the kingdom is in mystery. The rightful Heir is away, so the kingdom is left in the hands of men who are responsible for it. It stands in a world that has rejected the rightful Heir, a world whose every principle is against God.

Because of their faith, the Lord would make known to them the mystery of the kingdom of God. Even this was a display of His grace. Many prophets and righteous men in Old Testament times had longed to hear the things they were now hearing, but they never had that privilege. You could say this was the Lord's sovereign grace. He chose to bless those who had done what they were responsible to do: they received Him.

The same parable would be just like the cloud that led Israel long ago — full of light for those inside, full of darkness for those outside... The Lord was among them, bringing in full light, and they refused Him, above all the religious leaders. He had now broken with them, and that is the clue to His conduct... So it was with the disciples. They had already received Him, and now the Lord would give them truth to lead them on. "But from the one who has not" (Israel, who was rejecting Christ), "even what he has will be taken away" — the Lord's presence in person and the proof of His miracles would soon pass away.

Whoever has really made the truths he has heard a living possession will always be given more. But the one who has received it only as something dead and outward will lose even what he seems to have, but really has not.

What we do not have in the power of faith for real use, we do not have in deed and in truth.

To understand this verse we must see these people in the place of privilege God had given them as a nation. As such they had something the other nations did not have. But they did not have this new thing which Christ was opening out. So as a nation they were about to lose the standing they once had before God. Those who had received Jesus as their Messiah, though, were about to be brought into the kingdom of heaven in its heavenly character.

The end of verse 12 is very solemn: "from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away." In another place it reads "seems to have." It is possible to have something that will be taken from you. Where the Lord speaks of the talents, the man with one talent is a servant of the Lord Jesus, yet his talent is taken from him and given to the man who had ten. That talent was light he had; people are responsible for the light they have.

But this two-edged sword cuts another way as well. The principle our Lord states here is still at work. The true believers who make up the church have, and in due time we shall have abundance. Meanwhile a Christian world that has fallen away from the faith has not, and will lose even what it boasts of having.

If you do not go forward, you will go backward. If you are not making progress, you are falling behind. If you are not entering into what God has given you in His word, you are losing what you already have... Thanks be to the grace of God, this loss is not absolute and final. But we do lose the enjoyment of what is our own.

This is the first time the word parable occurs in the New Testament. The disciples, struck by this way of teaching, asked Him: "Why do you speak to them in parables?" (v. 10). The Lord's answer is telling. It links the parables of the kingdom of heaven directly to the rejection of the king… This was a case of "judicial blindness". The Lord quotes Isaiah to show it: "their eyes they have closed" (v. 15). They could not see because they had refused to see.

This rejection of Jesus, and the destruction of Jerusalem that followed, cut short all God's dealings with them as a nation for the time. They were set aside, and a new work began. Meanwhile judicial blindness falls on them, and the words of Isaiah the prophet come true. So He speaks to them in parables… Before this the Lord had not spoken in parables. But now He is the rejected One, and Israel is cut off for the time. None understand except those He instructs.

These people the Lord was speaking about had closed their eyes. It does not say God closed them. They closed them themselves, and so they did not receive the light of this new thing.

Matthew 13:13-15 shows plainly that Israel's wilful blindness came before their judicial blindness… In His absolute justice, God has now confirmed that blindness for the whole time that grace is going out to the Gentiles.

suniemi (from sun and iemi) means "to bring or set together"… It then stands for the soul's built-in capacity to do this. It joins the outward object to the inward sense. It is to weigh a thing, think it over closely, and so grasp its meaning. See Matthew 13:13-14 and the parallel passages.

Take people who did not have the word of God, whom the gospel would test when it went out to them in due time. For them the question was believing something they had never heard before. In Matthew the words go to a people who already had the word, and for them the great thing was to understand it. This they did not do.

The same parable would be just like the cloud of Israel in an earlier day — full of light to those inside, full of darkness to those outside. The crisis with unbelieving Israel was so solemn that He did not intend to give clearer light… He kept it from the crowd because they had already rejected the clearest possible proofs that Jesus was the Messiah of God… They loved darkness rather than light. What is the good of a light to one who shuts his eyes?

The design lies on the surface, so the opened eye can read it. Yet, clear as it is, "the wise and prudent" of this world do not see it… But it is always like this in God's teaching: to grasp the truth we must be taught by God. This is absolutely necessary. The keenest intellect is wholly unable to discern the mind of God.

He had also warned them plainly. If they refused to hear Him, He would bring on them the sentence He went on to pronounce… So they were without excuse. No one can accuse the Lord Jesus of unfairness when He chose to begin speaking to them in parables. The Judge of the earth will always do right, even in judgment.

If people would only admit their ignorance and ask in earnest, they too would be converted and find forgiveness of sins. Those who chose to stay ignorant would remain that way.

suniemi (from sun and iemi) means "to bring or set together"... As a picture, it came to stand for the soul's own power to do this: it joins the outward object to the inward sense. It means to weigh a thing, think it over carefully, and so grasp what it means.

Israel, as such, had forfeited its place, and therefore was "a people of no understanding" (Isa. 27:11). Long patience had waited on Israel. Seven hundred years had passed since God gave Isaiah the word, "Go and tell this people: you will hear indeed, but not understand." As individuals they might gather around the person of the Lord, but as a nation they were blinded... The testimony to Israel is now closed, though God's final purpose for them is not.

The blinding here is plainly judicial. God Himself has given them sightless eyes and unhearing ears. But why is this? It is no arbitrary judgment. Matthew 13:13-15 shows clearly that Israel's wilful blindness came before their judicial blindness... Now God, in His absolute justice, has confirmed this blindness. It stands for the whole length of the present period of grace to the Gentiles — "until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in."

Turn to Matthew's Gospel and you will see this. The Lord speaks of the complete fulfilment (anapleroo) of this prophecy, and He quotes the Greek version, not the Hebrew text (Matt. 13:13-15). The people had themselves closed their eyes. Mark and Luke record only the first part of the prophecy, which states Israel's condition of hearing and not understanding. All three agree in showing that the Lord took up teaching in parables because of their unfeeling moral state.

Our Lord quotes another prophecy of Isaiah, which was now coming true... These words come from Isa. 6:9-10, and there they are joined to what follows. The prophet says, "Then I said, Lord, how long? And He answered, Until the cities lie waste with no inhabitant, and the houses are without people, and the land is utterly desolate, and the LORD has removed people far away, and there is a great forsaking in the midst of the land." The Saviour's quotation from this passage matters. It settles that this predicted period of Israel's desolation is the period in which the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven exist and develop.

Paul spoke a final word to the unbelieving Jews before they left, quoting the passage from Isaiah 6 — the passage the Lord Himself quoted in Matthew 13, and John quotes in chapter 12 of his Gospel. This sad and terrible process of hardening and spiritual death had set in even in the days of Isaiah some seven centuries before Christ. It was much stronger when Christ was on earth, and now it has reached its final stage... As a nation they are blinded and without understanding in the things of God, though very sharp about the things of the world. This does not, of course, conflict with God still calling out a remnant according to the election of grace, as Romans 11 states.

The Lord's answer is telling. It confirms that His teaching in parables about the kingdom of heaven is directly related to the rejection of the king (vs. 11, 13). This was a case of "judicial blindness." The Lord quotes from Isaiah to show this. This is solemn indeed. They could not see because they had refused to see.

The heart of the people had grown fat. A thick insulation encased it, so that the precious truth of God could make no impression. Their ears had become dulled so as not to hear properly, and they themselves had closed their eyes. This was willful blindness, because they did not want the truth.

Compare these passages. The Gospels quote this prophecy, and so does the apostle Paul when he speaks to the Jews at Rome. Both point to the nation deliberately closing its own ears. "Their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed" (Acts 28:27). This wording comes from the Greek version of the Old Testament, which gives the passage this turn. Their sin was therefore their own deliberate action, and the nation is held responsible for it.

The hardening itself is clear and certain. God never made any man bad. But He may give people up to the consequences of their own folly and evil — and in certain cases He does. That is, He hardens in judgment those who despise and reject His grace. All are responsible. Sin destroys the capacity, not the responsibility, of obeying God.

The blinding here is a judgment from God. He Himself has given them sightless eyes and ears that do not hear. But why is this? It is no arbitrary judgment. Matthew 13:13-15 shows that Israel's willful blindness came before their judicial blindness. God, in His absolute justice, has now confirmed that blindness for the whole length of the present period of grace to the Gentiles — "until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in."

Understanding is of the heart (Matt. 13:15). Mary kept the deep sayings about the Christ in her heart. In secret she kept pondering them, so that she might understand them in time (Luke 2:19, 51).

If Israel would only listen to His voice, every present earthly blessing was to come upon them and overtake them, as the Lord's glorious promise put it. Among these blessings was the removal of all sickness, as we read again and again (Ex. 15:26; Ex. 23:15). So the pardon of their sins and their healing are treated as the same thing (see Matt. 13:15 and Mark).

The nation as such is given up to hardness of heart. There is no use in increasing their condemnation with more light. And yet the very fact that He speaks to them at all shows that all are not given up. If any are in earnest enough to look past the outward form, they will still find a gracious heart beating towards them. The national rejection leaves individual responsibility where it always is. He that has an ear, as the Lord tells them, still may hear.

Are you a self-satisfied rejecter of the truth? Then beware, in case He gives you up to blindness and hardness of heart too. How long has God held out His hands, ready to receive you?

That is how the Lord refers to them in verse 16 of our chapter... It is negative in verse 13, but positive in verse 16. It is striking that when our Lord quotes from Isaiah it says, "You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive." That looks at their side, their responsibility. So hearing comes first. But where God is working in the heart, seeing comes first. The Pharisees saw only what natural eyes can see. They could not see these spiritual realities.

People say that we gain knowledge in three ways. By observation, using our eyes. By teaching, using our ears. By intuition, using our brains. But these human faculties are of no use when it comes to grasping divine things. That is why we read, "But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear."

The design lies on the surface, where an opened eye can read it. And yet, clear as it is, "the wise and prudent" of this world do not notice it. Like the pillar of fire, it gives light to Israel and is only darkness to the Egyptian. But it is always like this in divine teaching: to grasp the truth we must be taught by God.

Speaking to His disciples, He said, "Blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear." They were His followers, because they had heard Him. As the sheep of the "little flock" they had heard the voice of the good Shepherd. When He was instructing His disciples, He described them as those who heard... These had hungered and thirsted after the word of righteousness. They were blessed indeed, for His ministry as the Prophet filled them.

Until after the blood had been shed, they knew very little of what those words meant — "Blessed are your eyes, for they see." But what did they see? "The glory of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth." And what they saw, and heard, and touched, they received — the eternal life which was in the bosom of the Father.

He Himself emphasised the privileges of their position in Matthew 13:16-17... Others had looked and longed for His coming; the disciples had Him before their eyes day after day.

The Spirit forms in the believer a faculty to understand what is revealed. We read in 1 Corinthians 2:16, "But we have the mind of Christ." This is a remarkable statement. It means we have the thinking faculty of Christ. God has worked in our hearts, so that we recognise He is revealing Himself. And He has given us His Spirit, so that we may understand what is revealed.

The Lord once said to His disciples, "Blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear." The crowd around them were hard of heart, dull of hearing, and their eyes were closed... Are our eyes and ears spiritually alert in this day? Are we able to enter into the mind of the Lord, and so walk intelligently in a dark world?

In verse 11 the Lord shows why He speaks in riddles to the crowd. There is now a clear distinction between the remnant and the nation. The nation was under the judgment of blindness that the prophet Isaiah pronounced. Blessed were the eyes of the disciples that saw Emmanuel, the Messiah — the One so many prophets and righteous men hoped for and longed for. All this marks judgment, and a called and spared remnant.

Because of their faith, the Lord would make known to them the mystery of the kingdom of God (v. 11). Yet even this was really a display of His grace. Many prophets and righteous men in Old Testament times had longed to hear the things they were now hearing, but had not had that privilege.

The word epithumeo means "to desire earnestly," and is often translated "desire," without the thought of the desire being an evil one, as in Matt. 13:17; 1 Tim. 3:1; 1 Peter 1:12.

The prophets did not see these things because they were not presented to them. They only came to light when the Lord brought them out. The Father raised up so many of those faithful men and gave them life. They worked wonderfully for God in their day, yet they did not know these wonderful things which have now been made known to us.

The prophets of old spoke both of the sufferings of Christ and of the glories that would follow. But we stand now between sufferings finished and glories yet to come. The prophets were foretelling these things, but they had not yet come. So they searched to see what kind of time the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing to. As they studied their own testimonies, it was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but us. This is very striking. They were so far from telling out the expectations of their own minds that they had to study their own prophecies to understand them, if possible.

We can recall the privileges of the patriarchs, the prophets and the kings of Old Testament times. The Lord appeared to them and spoke to them. But great as these things were, they could not compare with the presence of the Son of God who had come as man, and the words He spoke and the works He did.

But it is plain that even that wonderful privilege was below the mighty increase brought in by His death, resurrection and ascension. That was even more true once the Holy Spirit was given, to grasp it all fully and to bear witness to it.

Many prophets and righteous men had wanted to see what the disciples saw, but never lived to their day. Will they be robbed of their joy? No. They shall see the day of Christ's glory. They shall see the crop that has come from the seed they sowed in patience and under hardship — seed known perhaps only to themselves and to God.

Then follows the explanation of the parable. We have the meaning of "the birds of the air" given to us. It is not left to any guesswork of our own. In Matthew the point is understanding; in Luke, believing. The Jews already knew the word of God, so their great point was to understand what God taught — and self-righteousness never understands. Though they heard with their ears, they did not understand with their hearts.

The first parable stands by itself. Unless we understand it, we shall not understand the others. The great work now was to be the sowing of the "word of the kingdom" in the hearts of men. This does not give any special place to the Jew. In verse 19, Jesus said, "When anyone hears," so that opened the door to each hearer of the word, whoever he might be. What was needed was to hear with understanding. Three things work against that: the activities of the devil, the fickleness of the flesh, and the cares and riches of the world. But some do receive the word, and there is fruit in varying measures. This method of divine working is still in use. It marks the day in which we live. Christianity is based not on what it finds in man but on what it produces by the power of God.

The very fact that Christ came as the sower proved that Israel was set aside. If Israel had still been His vineyard, He would have come seeking fruit from the vine He had long before planted. He had come to Israel before, seeking fruit and finding none. He now comes in the new character of the sower, which is quite another thing. He comes into a waste world, where there was nothing, and He begins a fresh work. God is not now looking for fruit from man in one sense, because man has been proved to be a bad tree.

The Lord came and began to sow the seed which alone can make anyone fruitful. His coming and service proclaimed the ruin of man by the Fall. By nature none of us can be fruitful for God. The first need is the seed, and it must come from outside. The seed is the word of God (Luke 8:11). Nothing less will do. Civilization, training, education and example are all useful in their way. But alone or together, they cannot take the place of the seed. God's voice must be heard in the soul.

In Matthew it is the soil. He said, "Hear then the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom" (13:18-19). It is not hard to see why this should be so in Matthew. There Matthew presents Christ to Israel as the Messiah. Only this Gospel calls the seed "the word of the kingdom." Everything depended on how people received that word about His person and kingdom. That word tested the character of the soil.

We learn another solemn truth from this. The great thing that hinders spiritual understanding is religious prejudice. The Jews were charged with not understanding. They were not idol-worshippers or open unbelievers. But they had a system of religion in their minds, one they had been trained in from childhood. It darkened their grasp of what the Lord was bringing out. So it is now.

All heard, but how few cared to know the interpretation... There were those outside — and how many — who did not care to know. There were some who wanted to understand, which showed they were inside. To such it was given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God. This was great favour, but it came with responsibility. The light they received was to be shown to others. So they had to take care what they heard.

Matthew speaks of understanding — that is the great point for the Gospel writer who speaks of the word of the kingdom. Luke speaks of the word of God — "the seed is the word of God" — so that those who believe (not those who understand) should be saved. Matthew speaks of hearing and understanding, Luke of believing and being saved. This fits the different aims of the Gospels well. In Matthew we see a people of God whom God is already dealing with. The Messiah proclaims the kingdom of heaven and puts them to the test. Those who had set their hearts on worldly things did not understand the Messiah, and did not care for the word of the kingdom.

Is it a question of mental capacity, of an intellectual understanding? Certainly not. The Lord says the word was "sown in the heart;" it had appealed to the conscience, and the hearer could either accept it or reject it. But the heart would not have it and turned against it. "And does not understand it" means "he would not understand or receive it."

Here is another solemn truth. The main thing that blocks spiritual understanding is religious prejudice. The charge against the Jews was that they did not understand. They were not idol-worshippers or open unbelievers. But they carried a system of religion in their minds, one they had learned from infancy, and it darkened their grasp of what the Lord was bringing out. So it is now.

The ground where the seed falls is too hard-trodden for it to sink in. It lies exposed to the birds of heaven, and almost tempts the tempter to catch it away. There are many such souls. They are taken up with what hardens them and deadens them to other influences — business or pleasure, lawful or lawless. What matters here is the effect, not how it came about.

True, the Lord says it was "sown in his heart," and that is a solemn thing... In the parable the word has first been sown in the heart: Satan could not prevent that. It has made its appeal to the conscience and commended itself there as truth. It was sown in the heart for the man to accept or refuse. Conscience approves it, but that is not faith; faith always engages the person's will. Conviction is not acceptance.

The word may be sown in a heart that does not understand it. It may create no link of understanding, of feeling, or of conscience between the heart and God. Then the enemy takes it away, and it does not remain in the heart. The one who heard it is no less guilty. The seed sown in his heart suited every need, both the nature and the condition of man.

The wayside hearers are those who receive nothing from God. The evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in the heart. Unless the word reaches the conscience, and the man judges his sin before God, there is no new life. The one who only hears stays in a death never lifted from him; he is not born again; he cannot see or enter the kingdom. The seed does not take root. Instead the birds devour it, that is, the enemy.

"Stony ground" may not mean quite what we usually mean by the word. It is not ground with stones in it, because stones alone would not stop the root from getting down into the earth. What the blessed Lord means here by stony ground is a solid surface of rock, with a very slight and thin coating of earth over it. The seed falls there and — a very remarkable thing — it springs up at once. … It springs up fast in proportion to the lack of depth.

"As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy" (v. 20). There you have the heart, moved in its affections, but without exercise of conscience. He receives the word with joy right away. There is great gladness about it, but there it ends. Only the Holy Spirit acting on the conscience makes a person see things as they are in God's sight.

The stony ground hearers are the impressionable yet superficial folk. They respond to the word at once with gladness, but have no real sense of what it means. It was said of true converts that they "received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit" (1 Thess. 1:6). That affliction came before their gladness. It came from the word convicting them and waking them up to their sin. The stony ground hearer skips over the affliction, because he does not feel his real need. So he lands in a gladness that is only on the surface. It fades when testing comes, and he fades with it.

In the next class of hearers, the stony ground illustrates the opposition of the flesh. And for this reason it is pictured, not at its worst, but at its best. This man "hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself." This is not the natural man rejecting the Word. It is the natural man receiving it, and yet there is no more real fruit than in the first case. The seed grows fast. The rocky bed works like a natural hot-bed, so the seed shoots up quickly and full of promise. But the very thing that makes it grow so readily is what stops it from lasting.

Such a man believes. He is not insincere, and he is not a hypocrite. The Word simply has no root in him, like seed in stony ground. His heart was never ploughed up by conviction of sin, so it stays as hard as it was. The joy in him was too "immediate"; there was no finding out of self, no taking the place of the lost, that Christ might save. He believed a doctrine; he never came to Jesus. He had joy, not peace. There was no change in the man himself, and no root. Note, it was not what had root that withered, but because it had no root it withered away. It would not have withered had it had root.

Let us rejoice with trembling to see how far a person may go, and yet be deceived! … But the testing time came, and if there was no root, there would be no fruit.

The phrase "on stony ground" does not quite mean what we normally mean by that word. It is not ground with stones in it. Stones by themselves would not stop the root from getting down into the earth. By stony ground the Lord means a solid bed of rock with a very thin coating of earth over it… Its growth at the start is as fast as its withering at the end. It springs up quickly in proportion to how little depth there is… If the first case is indifference, this is shallowness.

A conscience touched by the word makes a man serious. He sees himself in the presence of God. That is always a serious thing, however strong the attraction of His grace or the hope His goodness inspires. If the word has not reached the conscience, there is no root. He received the word for the joy it gave; when it brings tribulation, he gives it up.

We cannot think too carefully about how these phrases connect: "immediately, with joy," "no root," "withered away." There is great danger in taking in the plan of salvation with the mind only, with no spiritual work in the conscience. This often comes with the most joyful emotions. It works on the natural feelings, but the truth has not gone into the heart. The word has cut no furrow there.

Such a man believes. He is not insincere, not a hypocrite. Simply, the word, like seed in stony ground, has no root in him. His heart, never ploughed up by conviction of sin, stays in unchanged hardness… He had joy, not peace. There was no change in the man himself, and no root. Note, it was not what had root that withered; it withered away because it had no root. It would not have withered if it had had root.

It is God's design for the trial of His saints. It distinguishes true saints from hypocrites. Unsound hearts make a fine show in prosperity, but in a time of persecution they fall away. Hypocrites will follow Christ to the Mount of Olives, but not to Calvary. Suffering times are sifting times. "When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold."

He heard the word and immediately received it with joy, yet it had no root in the man himself. It lasts only for a while. But when persecution or tribulation comes because of the word, immediately he is offended — the same word as "immediately" above. Feeling is not conscience. Feeling will act at once to receive. But when trial from within or without tests it, his own feelings turn against him and catch him in a trap.

Every test and trial of life has its sure effect on us. They either scorch and wither us, like the corn on rocky ground that dies when the sun is up. Or they bring our Christian life and fruit to maturity. Our secret life with God decides which of the two happens in us. If we are much with Him, we strike our roots down into the knowledge of Him. We draw our refreshment and strength from the hidden springs in Him. Then we need not dread the trial.

The seed fell, but the ground that received it was already overrun with thorns. They appeared well. As far as anyone could see, they had received the seed. There were indeed roots in them, but they were the roots of something else — "other seeds fell among thorns." Those roots were growing there before the seed was scattered. No doubt these thorns seemed weak and unimportant when the word first fell on the soil. Someone may have thought they were pulled up. But the roots stayed in the ground. They sprang up, pushed out the good seed and choked it — and so no fruit came. These hearers profess to receive the word of the kingdom, but they are taken up with the things of this world — its sorrows, its sadness or its delights. The things they busy themselves with are the things that choke the seed — things tied, not to Christ, but to what He will judge.

The third class of ground, full of thorns, gives the seed no proper welcome either. Perhaps the seed makes a feeble attempt to grow, but the thorns crowd out the grain: it does not continue. This is explained in verse 22 as describing those who, though they hear the word, do not give it a more important place than the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches. Present material concerns and desire for this world's goods choke out the more vital, valuable blessing of the word of God. Too many today prefer thorns!

These "cares" are very subtle things. They come in as necessary duties, and there is no sin in doing one's duty. In fact, it is right that a man should do his duty in his daily work. But if these duties choke the word, and a man loses his soul through it, what then? And if the love of possession slips into the heart, it checks the power of Christ over the soul and conscience. It eats out the practical life of the Christian, and his soul is withered, withered, withered.

The "cares" point especially to the poor man's struggle over how to live at all, how to keep the wolf from the door. This is the struggle for daily food, the cares of this life. If faith does not meet them, they stop the word from thriving in the heart. Those who are well off are especially open to the "deceitfulness of riches," above all when the love of money comes with having it (1 Tim. 6:9-10).

As riches are compared to "wind" to show how empty they are (Hosea 12:1), so they are compared to "thorns," to show the trouble they bring (Matt. 13:22). Thorns are no more likely to tear our clothes than riches are to tear our hearts. They are thorns while we gather them; they prick us with worry. As they pierce the hand with the worry of getting, so they wound the heart with the fear of losing.

As to the deceitfulness of riches, the smallest possession that the heart is set on is enough to choke the word. How we see this in people who make a profession of faith and have lost all freshness!

This is perhaps a more solemn warning than either of the others. Here the word seems to have taken deeper hold. What overthrows this faith is not the violent assault of persecution, but the quiet influence of things that surround us all. Care for the soul is not despised; it is just crowded out. No sudden attack, no pressure of temptation — just the ordinary wear and tear of life, and, like seed among thorns, the promise of fruit was choked.

The farmer may plough and harrow, but for every root he breaks, two plants will grow up, and his field will become a briar patch. Instead, let him sow the field with grass seed, and as the grass grows up it will drive out the briars. This is overcoming evil with good... Let the positive things of Christ fill the heart. Let the word of Christ dwell in us richly, and we will have little room and less desire for the lusts of the flesh.

The sower here is the Lord Himself, yet out of four casts of the seed, three are unsuccessful. It is only the last case where the seed bears ripe fruit.

Why are the hearts of some compared to good ground, when Scripture teaches that all hearts are "deceitful and desperately sick"? Not because there is anything naturally good in them. This gives only the facts, not the cause at work. It is simply the fact of the preaching of the word, and the reception of it.

We are not told what has made it good, but suppose we have the devil, nature, and the world in the first three cases — what is the only remaining influence? There is nothing but the Holy Spirit. It is very necessary these days to testify that the plough must come before the seed-basket. What makes the heart good? He who has gone out to plough the fallow ground and sow the seed.

What distinguishes the good ground, as far as receiving the word goes, is that a man understands the word. In the opposite case, strictly speaking, he does not understand it. In the two other cases there is the appearance of it, but no fruit. Here one regards nothing but fruit.

What is it here to "understand"? It is the perception that the word of the kingdom, or of God, is what the soul needs. "God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). If one may speak this way, God in the gospel says to the sinner: I know your need; you are lost, but I have given My Son to save you.

In this instance the word is heard in a prepared heart — in an "honest and good heart," as the Lord said (Luke). Looking at the three Gospels, we see three inward actions before the fruit-bearing. 1. Matthew: the hearer understands the word. 2. Mark: he receives it. 3. Luke: he holds it fast.

In Mark, as with a view to service, it is a question of reception or not. In Luke, as looking on to strangers of the nations, the point is "believing" and being "saved," keeping the word and bringing forth fruit with patience. But the Jew lived in constant contact with religious prejudice and tradition. So he was in particular danger of not "understanding" what was new and of God — the present test of faith.

This class alone describes true believers, and all bear fruit, though in three differing measures. Thirtyfold is not large, but it is fruit; sixtyfold is more fruit; and a hundredfold is much fruit (John 15:2-5).

Good ground is always prepared ground. The conscience has been reached, and as a result fruit is produced — but even so, it is in different degrees: some thirty, some sixty, and some a hundredfold. The things which are fatal to the unbeliever may seriously hinder the fruitfulness of the true believer.

Is the difference to be accounted for on the ground of faithfulness or opportunity? The Lord does not take up the question here, but other Scriptures show that both will be taken into account in the great Day of Rewards.