At the end of ch. 12 the heavenly King, having been fully rejected by the leaders of the Jewish religion, made a break with them. On that day He went out of the house and sat beside the sea. This is very significant. The house signifies the house of Israel (Matt. 10:6), and the sea signifies the Gentile world (Dan. 7:3, 17; Rev. 17:15). The King's going out of the house to sit beside the sea signifies that after His break with the Jews, He forsook the house of Israel and turned to the Gentiles. It was after this, while on the seashore, that He gave the parables concerning the mysteries of the kingdom. This signifies that the mysteries of the kingdom were revealed in the church. Hence, all the parables in this chapter were spoken to His disciples, not to the Jews.

The boat, which was in the sea but not of the sea, signifies the church, which is in the world but not of the world. It was in the boat, in the church, that the King of the heavenly kingdom, after forsaking the Jews and turning to the Gentiles, revealed in parables the mysteries of the kingdom.

In contrast to what He said in the other six parables (vv. 24, 31, 33, 44-45, 47), at the beginning of this parable, the first of the seven parables concerning the mysteries of the kingdom, the Lord did not say, "The kingdom of the heavens is (or, has become) like...," because the kingdom of the heavens began with the second parable. In this first parable the Lord went out only to sow the seed for the kingdom. At that time the seed had not yet grown to be the crop for the formation of the kingdom. As the Lord said in His preaching at that time, the kingdom had not yet come but had only drawn near (Matt. 4:17).

The sower was the Lord Himself (v. 37).

The seeds are the word of the kingdom (v. 19), the Lord being in this word as life.

Beside the way refers to a place close to the way. It is hardened by the traffic of the way; thus, it is difficult for the seeds to penetrate it. The wayside signifies the heart that is hardened by worldly traffic and cannot open to understand, to comprehend, the word of the kingdom (v. 19).

The birds signify the evil one, Satan, who comes and snatches away the word of the kingdom sown in the hardened heart (v. 19).

The rocky places that do not have much earth signify the heart that is shallow in receiving the word of the kingdom. Deep within such a heart are rocks — hidden sins, personal desires, self-seeking, and self-pity — which hinder the seed from taking root in the depths of the heart.

The sun with its scorching heat signifies affliction or persecution (v. 21). The scorching heat of the sun causes the seed that is not rooted to wither. The heat of the sun is for the growth and ripening of the crop, which take place once the seed has been deeply rooted. But because of the seed's lack of root, the sun's heat, which should cause growth and ripening, becomes a death blow to the seed.

The thorns signify the anxiety of the age and the deceitfulness of riches, which utterly choke the word, preventing it from growing in the heart and causing it to become unfruitful (v. 22).

The good earth signifies the good heart that is not hardened by worldly traffic, that is without hidden sins, and that is without the anxiety of the age and the deceitfulness of riches. Such a heart gives every inch of its ground to receive the word that the word may grow, bear fruit, and produce even a hundredfold (v. 23).

This word indicates that the opposing and rejecting Jews did not have ears to hear. Hence, they could not hear.

The King of the heavenly kingdom used parables to reveal the things of the kingdom (v. 34) in order to make them mysteries to the opposing and rejecting Jews so that they would not understand them. From the time the King came to sow the seed until He comes back to reap the harvest, everything concerning the kingdom is a mystery to the natural mind. Only the enlightened mind of a submissive heart can understand these mysteries.

This is the receiver and follower of the heavenly King; to such a one the revelation concerning the kingdom will be given in abundance.

This is the opposing and rejecting Jew, from whom what the heavenly King has spoken and done will be taken away. This is the real condition of the Jews today. They have no knowledge whatever concerning the kingdom of the heavens. It is altogether a mystery unknown to them.

What a blessing it is to see and hear the mysteries of the heavenly kingdom!

The evil one is the devil (vv. 38-39).

In this, the second, parable the Lord began to say, "The kingdom of the heavens is (or, has become) like...," because the kingdom of the heavens began to be established when this parable began to be fulfilled, i.e., on the day of Pentecost, when the church was built (Matt. 16:18-19). It was from that time, after the church had been founded, that the tares, the false believers, were sown among the true believers, the wheat, forming the appearance of the kingdom of the heavens.

The men were the slaves (v. 27), referring to the Lord's slaves, mainly the apostles. It was when the Lord's slaves were sleeping and were not watching that the Lord's enemy, the devil, came and sowed false believers among the true.

A tare is a kind of darnel, a weed resembling wheat. Its seeds are poisonous and can cause sleepiness, nausea, convulsions, and even death. The sprout and leaves of tares look the same as those of wheat. It is impossible to distinguish wheat from tares until the fruit is produced. The fruit of the wheat is golden yellow, but that of the tares is black.

In the Old Testament the children of Israel, who were in the kingdom of God, were likened to grapes growing in the vineyard (Matt. 21:33-34), whereas in the New Testament the kingdom people, who are in the kingdom of the heavens, are likened to wheat growing in the field. The vineyard was fenced, limited, and included only the Jews, whereas the field is worldwide, open, unlimited, and includes all peoples.

Root out in order to collect. So in the succeeding verses.

Both the tares and the wheat grow in the field, and the field is the world (v. 38). The false believers and the true live in the world. To collect the tares from the field means to take away the false believers from the world. The Lord did not want His slaves to do this, because while taking away the false believers from the world, they might also take the true ones away. The Catholic Church did this very much and by so doing killed many true believers.

To grow together in the world, not in the church.

The fruit of the wheat in the first two parables and the fruit of the mustard seed here in the third parable are for food. This indicates that the kingdom people, the constituents of the kingdom and of the church, should be like a crop that produces food for the satisfaction of God and man.

The church, which is the embodiment of the kingdom, should be like an herb that produces food. However, its nature and function were changed, so that it became a "tree," a lodging place for birds. (This is against the law of God's creation, that is, that every plant must be after its kind — Gen. 1:11-12.) This change happened in the first part of the fourth century, when Constantine the Great mixed the church with the world. He brought thousands of false believers into Christianity, making it Christendom, no longer the church. Hence, this third parable corresponds with the third of the seven churches in Rev. 2 and Rev. 3, the church in Pergamos (Rev. 2:12-17 — see note Rev. 2:12¹). The mustard is an annual herb, whereas the tree is a perennial plant. The church, according to its heavenly and spiritual nature, should be like the mustard, sojourning on the earth. But with its nature changed, the church became deeply rooted and settled as a tree in the earth, flourishing with its enterprises as the branches in which many evil persons and things are lodged. This resulted in the formation of the outward organization of the outward appearance of the kingdom of the heavens.

Since the birds in the first parable signify the evil one, Satan (vv. 4, 19), the birds of heaven here must refer to Satan's evil spirits with the evil persons and things motivated by them. They lodge in the branches of the great tree, that is, in the enterprises of Christendom.

In the Scriptures leaven signifies evil things (1 Cor. 5:6, 8) and evil doctrines (Matt. 16:6, 11-12).

The church as the practical kingdom of the heavens, with Christ, the unleavened fine flour, as its content, must be a loaf of unleavened bread (1 Cor. 5:7-8). However, the Catholic Church, which was fully and officially formed in the sixth century and which is signified by the woman here, took in many pagan practices, heretical doctrines, and evil matters and mixed them with the teachings concerning Christ, leavening the whole content of Christianity. This mixture became the corrupted content of the outward appearance of the kingdom of the heavens. This fourth parable corresponds with the fourth of the seven churches in Rev. 2 and Rev. 3, the church in Thyatira (Rev. 2:18-29 — see note Rev. 2:20¹).

Meal, for making the meal offering (Lev. 2:1), signifies Christ as food to both God and man. Three measures is the quantity needed to make a full meal (Gen. 18:6). Hence, the hiding of the leaven in three measures of meal signifies that the Catholic Church has fully leavened in a hidden way all the teachings concerning Christ. This is the actual situation in the Roman Catholic Church. Such leavening is absolutely against the Scriptures, which strongly forbid putting any leaven into the meal offering (Lev. 2:4-5, 11).

The man here is Christ, who found the kingdom of the heavens in 4:12—12:23, hid it in Matt. 12:24-50; 13:1-43, and in His joy went to the cross in Matt. 16:21; 17:22-23; 20:18-19 and Matt. 26:1-75; 27:1-52 to sell all that He had and to buy the field, i.e., redeem the created and lost earth, for the kingdom.

The field is the earth created by God for His kingdom (Gen. 1:26-28).

The previous three parables, concerning the outward appearance of the kingdom, were spoken publicly by the heavenly King in a boat to the crowds (vv. 2, 34), whereas the three succeeding parables were given privately in a house to the disciples (v. 36). This indicates that the things covered by these latter three parables are more hidden. The first parable concerns a treasure hidden in the field. The treasure hidden in the field must consist of gold or precious stones, the materials for the building of the church and the New Jerusalem (1 Cor. 3:12; Rev. 21:18-20). Since the church is the practical kingdom today, and since the New Jerusalem will be the kingdom in manifestation in the coming age, the treasure hidden in the field must signify the kingdom hidden on God's created earth.

The kingdom of the Father is the heavenly part of the millennium, the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens as a reward to the overcomers.

The sons of the kingdom (v. 38), who are the overcomers.

See note Matt. 8:12^3b.

The lake of fire (Rev. 20:10, 15).

After giving the seven parables concerning the mysteries of the kingdom, the Lord likened the discipled scribe to a householder who has a treasure, a rich store of things new and old, signifying not only the new and old knowledge of the Scriptures but also the new and old experiences of life in the kingdom.

The kingdom of the Son of Man, which is the earthly part of the millennium, the Messianic kingdom.

This parable discloses that not long after the kingdom was established through the building of the church, the situation of the kingdom of the heavens changed. The kingdom was established with the sons of the kingdom, the wheat. But the sons of the evil one, the tares, grew up to alter the situation. Hence, a difference has arisen between the kingdom of the heavens and its outward appearance. The sons of the kingdom, the wheat, constitute the kingdom, whereas the sons of the evil one, the tares, have formed the outward appearance of the kingdom, which today is called Christendom.

The kingdom people were chosen by God before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4), but the mysteries of the kingdom were hidden from the foundation of the world.

The merchant also is Christ, who was seeking the church for His kingdom. After finding it in Matt. 16:18 and Matt. 18:17, He went to the cross and sold all that He had and bought it for the kingdom.

The pearl, produced in the death waters (the world filled with death) by the living oyster (the living Christ), wounded by a little rock (the sinner), and secreting its life-juice around the wounding rock (the believer — see note Rev. 21:21^1b), is material for the building of the New Jerusalem. Since the pearl comes out of the sea, which signifies the world corrupted by Satan (Isa. 57:20; Rev. 17:15), it must refer to the church, which is constituted mainly of regenerated believers from the Gentile world and which is of great value.

Lit., dragnet. This parable corresponds with that in Matt. 25:32-46. The net here signifies not the gospel of grace, which is preached in the church age, but the eternal gospel, which will be preached to the Gentile world during the great tribulation (Rev. 14:6-7 — see note Rev. 14:6¹).

The sea signifies the Gentile world.

Every species signifies all the nations, all the Gentiles (Matt. 25:32).

The good are the "sheep," who are justified; the foul are the "goats," who are condemned (Matt. 25:32).

The lake of fire (Matt. 25:41; Rev. 20:10, 15).

See note Matt. 8:12^3b.

In 12:24 the Pharisees opposed and rejected Christ to the uttermost. Here the Galileans knew Him according to the flesh, not according to the spirit (2 Cor. 5:16). They were blinded by their natural knowledge.

The rejection by the Pharisees caused the heavenly King to forsake them. The unbelief of the Galileans caused the Lord not to do many works of power among them.