Matthew Chapter 13

"Christ's Teaching in Parables; Parables Explained."

This Bible Study is written by Roger Christopherson, and it's transcription/ location is provided by http://www.theseason.org/plough.htm

There is a group of parables that you must understand, or you will never understand the teachings of Jesus Christ, on the more in-depth level. This level is the level that allows you to understand the overall plan of the living God. It is not complicated, for it's simplicity is on the level of a child, yet in it's simplicity it makes the so-called wise of the world foolish. As it is written in Romans 11:8, "(According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day."

slumber
2659 katanuxis (kat-an'-oox-is);
from 2660; a prickling (sensation, as of the limbs asleep), i.e. (by implication [perhaps by some confusion with 3506 or even with 3571]) stupor (lethargy):
KJV-- slumber.

In the Greek the word "slumber", reads "stupor"; they are awake, only in a stupor.

Their minds are in a stupor for hearing and understanding the Word of God.

Matthew 13:1 "The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea side."

Matthew 13:2 "And great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship, and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore."

This is the same action that is used in the Book of Revelation, where in symbolism it is the exact opposite. Revelation 13:1; "And I stood upon the sand [shore] of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy." In Revelation the sea is the world and all mankind in it, and the beast is the system that the Antichrist will use to rule the world.

In just the opposite view, we see Jesus is pushing off from the shore, and while standing in that boat at sea, the multitude of people are about to have the mysteries that have existed since the beginning of the world explained to them. In the parables that will follow in this chapter, are the secrets that will open up the entire Word of God, if you have eyes to see and ears to hear.

Matthew 13:3 "And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow;"

Is this complicated, my friend? Of course not. This is what we call today, broadcast sowing, or planting of seed. The man carries the seed bag, and walks the field, throwing the seed around him as he walks. The sower went forth to sow seed; he planted the seed to get the fruit of his harvest.

Matthew 13:4 "And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up:"

The "way side" is a pathway that runs through the field, and on the path the earth is very hard from the compacting of walking on it. Seed just will not take root on that hard soil. The seed that lay on the path is open for the birds to come and eat it. Now that is not to hard to understand is it? The paths of these days which are hard, are the paths of commerce.

Matthew 13:5 "Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth:"

The stony place are the places where there is only rock, and not the soil of the earth.

Matthew 13:6 "And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away."

A plant must have it's roots in the deep soil where the moisture is present, where it can live and be fed. When the hot sun of the day draws the moisture from the surface, if the roots are not deep, the plant will dry up and die.

Let's apply the spiritual application here, the seed that is sown here is the "Word of God".

Matthew 13:7 "And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them:"

When the seed fell among thorns, then the new plant was choked out because of the weeds that surrounded it and absorbed the moisture around it. This is as it is in the analogy, in having the Word planted among the wicked and they will not allow God's Word to penetrate their minds and take root.

Matthew 13:8 "But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold."

The seed that did take hold, developed, and bore fruit. Jesus gives a message of when we are to take special notice.

Matthew 13:9 "Who hath ears to hear, let him hear."

Jesus uses this terminology when there is an deep in-depth meaning concerning the final generation. So it is with this parable with the sower. You will understand it or you will not understand the other parables of Christ. This first parable is all tied together with other parables of the sower, this is only the first part. This is only the foundation of the analogy that is being set up to get to the truth that is being taught.

The wise will even go back into that world age that was. Some people simply cannot understand that level, for their roots in God's Word are not deep enough to give them understanding.

Matthew 13:10 "And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?"

Jesus disciples turned to Christ and asked Him, why are you speaking in parables, in riddles that they can not understand?

Matthew 13:11 "He answered and said unto them, "Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given."

What is a mystery? It is something that is unknown. The answer may be in plain sight, only if you cannot put all the details together, and take all the clues and give an understanding to them, you do not know. There are things dealing with the kingdom of heaven that seem foolish to mankind, and will always remain hidden, unless the Spirit of the Living God reveals them to you.

Today, because those things are mysteries, mankind is going to great lengths to understand the past, when all the time it is written in His Word. However, those truths cannot be understood because it is God that has blinded them for their own protection. Why would this be? Because if they had the understanding, and were tried by the Antichrist Satan, and his system, (which is coming shortly), they would not have the ability to stand against Satan. They lack faith and willpower to turn themselves over completely to the Holy Spirit. They just don't care, and they continue to live in a state of hopelessness.

Matthew 13:12 "For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath."

What are we talking about here? The Word of God! If a certain amount is given to you, can you sow it, and replant it in someone's mind? If you do not sow the Word of God in another persons mind, then God will take the understanding that He has given you, and and He will allow you to become deceived in the ways of the world, just as if you never received the Word in the first place. If you have a truth, share it with someone else, or you will lose it.

Matthew 13:13 "Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand."

Matthew 13:14 "And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:"

This was prophesied by Isaiah in Isaiah 6:9, 10; "And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. [9] Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.[10]."

Our Heavenly Father has sent us His Son, and He performed many great miracles in their sight, and yet these blind and dumb scribes and Pharisees, after seeing and hearing Christ with His many wonderful acts yelled out, "show us a sign". Though they saw with their eyes and heard with their ears, they understood nothing that was going on around them. Their minds were closed, and they perceived nothing. Jesus is saying it here, Paul said it later, and the prophet Isaiah said it five hundred years prior to Jesus Christ's birth; "these people" are in a stupor. We will find out later who "these people" are with the "fat hearts", or thick minds.

Matthew 13:15 " For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them."

Jesus gave us many prophesies and rich teachings, as He walked upon the earth, and all the time these scribes and Pharisees, stumbling after Christ missed the whole thing. It's like they went to the ball game, and were more concerned with the lead in the paint on the scoreboard, then the score posted. It was written long ago, many times, by the prophets, and in the sky that the Messiah would come, and when He came He performed the prophesies, and performed the miracles so that those with eyes to see and ears to hear would understand.

God didn't close their eyes, they closed them themselves, then God sent the stupor. They made the choice, and then God acted on their choice. This is also what will happen again very shortly. Those who choose to study and know the truth will be sealed in their minds with the understanding of God and His prophecies of the end times, And those who choose to believe Satan's lies, God will send them into a stupor, and they will be deceived.

Revelation 9:4; "And it was commanded them [Satan's locust army of fallen angels] that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads."

The reason for God allowing this stupor to come over even Christians, is for their own protection, so that they would not commit the unpardonable sin, the refusal of the Holy Spirit to speak through them. This is what is discussed in Hebrews 5:11, 12; that they become dull of hearing, until the time of teaching. That time is the Millennium Age, for if they understood now, and committed the unpardonable sin, that time would be closed to them.

The unpardonable sin will be a thing of the past in the Millennium age.

Matthew 13:16 "But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear."

Jesus is speaking to his disciples, His elect even to this last generation.

Matthew 13:17 "For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them."

Christ is the subject here, He is the one that did the great works of healing and teaching, and it is He that all those prophets of old have desired to see and hear in person. The prophets heard the words of God in parables, and in most cases they wrote, and did understand what they were writing, because it was prophecy, to be understood at the right time.

When Jesus walked, healed and taught, He did things in a simple way, by using parables. When He healed, there was a lesson in the healing. When men watch and here these things, and do not understand, it is not intended for them to understand. However some of you have a destiny and purpose, and have known that things were not right since you were a child. When the Word is explained it then comes to life in your mind. That is how it was for Christ's disciples, because they have eyes to see.

In Mark 4:13 it is written; "And He said unto them, "Know ye not this parable? and how then will ye know all parables?" If you don't understand this parable of the sower, then how will you understand any of His parables? The answer is you won't.

All the parables dealing with the sower are all tied together, and in the end, Christ will reveal the answer to the mystery.

Matthew 13:18 "Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower."

This is a continuation of the parable of the sower.

Matthew 13:19 "When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side."

Any kingdom is made up of the king and His domain, or dominion. So this is talking about the King of kings, Jesus Christ and His dominion. The seed again is the Word of God, and the way side is the path where people walk and where it is to hard for the seed to sprout. When we plant the seed, it is better that we work the soil, before planting the seed, then, when the seed comes up, it will bear more fruit.

The "wicked one" are the ways of this world which will catch one away from God's Word. We take small things and blow them out of proportion. The world relates it's success with with it's worries, and stresses that it copes with. The job world expects you to carry the full load. Wherein God offers you peace of mind, and the right to place your burdens on Him, and He allows you to share your load with Him.

Matthew 13:20 "But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it;"

"Anon" in the Greek means "straight away", or immediately. When this person hears the Word, he thinks immediately that it is the greatest thing that he has heard.

Matthew 13:21 "Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended."

For a plant to be healthy it must have a well worked soil, with proper preparation, so when the root shoots downward it can go down far enough to get the moisture for the plant. The problem spiritually with the person spoken of in this verse, is that they don't have the root system to reach the depth necessary to live. They hear the Word and sprout immediately upward, yet their spiritual life is short lived.

When the tribulation, and hard times comes because of their profession in the faith and belief of Jesus Christ, these people dry up, and run. Why? Because they have no grounding in the Word, they don't know the promises or the prophecies concerning themselves. This "by and by" in the Greek text means "immediately". So this would say, "immediately he stumbles". He falls.

At first he thought the the Word was so beautiful, and took the peace that was offered in the Word; however let a little trouble come along, and the boy is out the door. He just can't take the heat that comes over the Word of God.

Matthew 13:22 "He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful."

This is another type of person, that also heard and received the Word of God among the thorns, or in times of trouble. He took the Word into his mind, only there was many problems that surrounded him from the cares and problems created by this world age. You know, the job, the family problems, taxes, bills, and on and on. These are the cares of this world. They robbed this new Christian of his growth in the Scripture, and shortly, puff, the guy is gone.

Many times the deceitfulness of riches can also choke the Word from reaching a persons mind. You know, the keeping up with the Jones, getting the car, house, and everything else, just because they are there. Their activity and constant striving to get ahead keeps them from getting to the Word of God, so they rely on that "one verse preacher" on TV to get their spiritual food for the week. One verse a week isn't bad, is thought at first, until finally they say, I don't need that. The result being that they become spiritually dead.

If you become unfruitful God will not bless you, and without God's blessings, you will not find peace and happiness. Not in this earth age, or any age. You must produce fruit to receive the blessings of God. Our responsibility is to plant the seed, when we do that, then we have done our part. It is the Holy Spirit that will take that Word, and make it grow in their mind.

Matthew 13:23 "But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty."

To reach the entire world it takes the entire body of Christ, and the preparation of that planting field starts in prayer, and the study of God's Holy Word. So here we see the good seed is planted in the good soil, that has been prepared to receive the truths of God's Word, and that person takes the Word and gives it out to others. He tells others how the Lord has saved him, and the peace of mind that he has received. When that seed that you have planted, multiplies with many souls saved to Christ, you have a reward in all that your seed has produced.

This is not an parable here but an explanation of a parable.

Matthew 13:24 "Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:"

Remember the subject; the king and His king dominion.

Matthew 13:25 "But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way."

This Word "tares" in the Greek is "zizanion", and not "darnel". It is a plant in Palestine known today as "zewan". When Zewan is growing it looks like wheat, but when it is full grown the ears are long, and the grains inside are almost black. To make the wheat grain fit for grinding, each grain of zewan must be removed, or the bread is bitter and poisonous.

The wheat and the zewan are the same color when first coming up, then as the wheat turns golden and ripens, the zewan also ripens into it's poison grain, and shows it's true colors. While the wheat is golden ripe, the black bitterness of the fruits of zwan make it obvious of the mixture.

Don't lose the focus of this verse. This is a parable of a man that had a field, and in verse twenty four we see that man sowed "good seed". But while he was resting from his hard days labor, some enemy came along and sowed bad seed.

In this part of the parable, the term for the seed changes, as the seed in the first parables referred to the Word of God, the "seed" in the parable here is "Sperma" in the Greek. Refer to Strong's Greek dictionary # 4690; "Sperma; from 4687, something sown, i.e. seed, the male "sperm", the offspring."

So as we continue in this parable, we are not to spiritualize away something that happened, and is hidden; however Jesus is revealing this hidden event through the use of this parable.

Matthew 13:26 "But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also."

So when the tares of this parable sprung up and matured, at the right time, you could tell the difference between the wheat and the zewan [tares].

Matthew 13:27 "So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?"

Lets start using the proper identification of what is happening here. "The servant said unto God, did you not sow Adam in the field, then for whence came these Kenites?" This is another part of the parable of the sower, and all the parts are necessary, to get the hidden message that Jesus is teaching His disciples.

Friend, if you don't get this entire parable, you will miss out on almost all of the complete plan of God, referring to His prophecies in this earth age. In fact, without the understanding of this parable, the book of Genesis becomes a fairy-tale, and a series of unrelated stories.

Matthew 13:28 "He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?"

This is Jesus Christ, the Son of God speaking. Who is God's enemy, as related from the very first to the very last chapters of our Bible. The enemy is Satan. In the garden of Eden, Satan is called a "serpent", and "the tree of good and evil." As the enemy Satan has played many roles throughout the entire Bible. He is called the dragon, the Antichrist, the deceiver, and death, as well as others. Satan is God's enemy, and Satan the enemy planted his seed "Sperma, or sperm", and from it, a crop of children came up in the field.

The elect of God, and all those that call themselves Christians, are the servants of God, and in this parable Jesus is telling you what you should do about them. "Should we go and gather them up?" No!

So the question becomes, should we go and execute the Kenites?

Matthew 13:29 "But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them."

The grains of "wheat" are symbolic of our Heavenly Father's children. The answer to the question whether we should destroy the tares, or the Kenites is a definite NO, from Jesus.

We are reminded here of Amos 9:9; "For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all notions, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth." This "House of Israel" are the Christian nations of the world; the Jews are the "House of Judah". These Kenites have so blended in with Christians in our generation, that it is impossible to tell the difference, without seeing into their hearts. God is telling us that at the end of this earth age, at the coming of Jesus Christ, that sifting will take place.

The problem is that while mankind is gathering the tares, that they will damage one of the grains of wheat also. When God does His sifting, there will be no saved souls lost, not one of them.

Matthew 13:30 "Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn."

It is God's plan that the Kenites would grow, just as the tares in the parable grew, and come to maturity. So here we have the completion of the parable of the sower, and now Jesus is going to explain the entire parable of the sower, in all parts, to His disciples.

Matthew 13:31 "Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field:"

Matthew 13:32 "Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof."

The mustard seed is the smallest of the herb seeds and it will grow to the greatest in size, about fifteen feet high. In the Greek it says, "the birds of heaven come and lodge in it's branches". This is in reference to the Nephilim, and the fallen angels, that come and roost in the branches.

To put it in our modern day, there can even be so-called Christians flying their banners of religion to shadow the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 13:33 "Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened."

This has a two fold meaning. You use wheat to bake bread. You take the meal of the wheat to bake and get your bread. The wheat here is the fruit of the seed that is planted. The seed that we plant is the Word, however there are two words given in the Greek, The one word for seed is "sperma" and it produced children, and in the flesh, if we allow them to influence our mind, they will bring us death [spiritual death].

The other Word is the "truth of God's Holy Scriptures", and from that seed, which came from Adam, is Christ. It is through Jesus Christ and only Him that we can have eternal life. The wheat in the parable are the elect of God, that God can depend upon. The "whole" [field] of the loaf will be one, in victory. The kingdom of God is the leaven that made the loaf rise, and come to the completed state that it shall come to.

Matthew 13:34 "All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them:"

Remember in the tenth verse where the disciples asked Jesus why He spoke in parables? So far He has not explained these parables to the multitudes, even though we have discussed it in our study. Jesus explained that it is given for the disciples, and you that are a disciple if you are saved and study his Word, however to the unsaved, and Kenite, it is not given.

What we have explained here is still not for the unsaved, in fact it is foolishness to them. If you plan on producing fruit for God's kingdom, you have to do it His way. Though the multitude watch and were healed, they still considered the whole thing a side show. and that is why Jesus had no intension of explaining these truths to them.

Matthew 13:35 "That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world."

Here Jesus is quoting from the Psalm 78:2, from the prophet David. "I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old:" The things which have been kept secret from the foundation of this earth age has to do with the planting of souls in this earth age. It is a deeper study that we will go into here, at a time past, in the first earth age, there was a uprising of Satan and one third of the sons of God, or angelic souls.

That uprising in the first earth age caused the complete ruin of this earth as an inhabitable place, and this happening occurred between Genesis 1:1, and 1:2. To draw His created souls back to Him, He established His plan, and that plan is written in the heavens of the Constellations. The details of that plan are complete, and given to us through the prophets of the Bible.

There is an ingredience in that plan that was started when Eve and Satan had a son, and that son's name was "Cain". This parable of the sower is directed to that event and the fruit of that event. The event has been kept secret, and is still secret to most of the church world today, and it deals with the Kenites, where they came from, who they are, and what they plan on doing. They have a mission, and as long as it remains a secret to a person, much of the Bible just doesn't make sense.

Satan has used the Kenites from the very beginning to overthrow the plan of God, and it is impossible for that to succeed. In these end times, the Kenites will be successful in diverting millions of Christians to the Antichrist, only, the elect of God will have the truth sealed in their minds, and wait on Jesus Christ. This leaven of the woman came forth, even before the foundation of this earth age, because they earned it. That is what Ephesians 1:4 is all about.

Matthew 13:36 "Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field."

Well, the time of Jesus teaching was over, and the crowd had gone. Jesus went into the house, and in came the disciples after him. They just could not wait to have the parables explained to them.

So lets lock in to the fact that Christ is going to explain the parables that He just gave to the multitude. He is not speaking in one, but trying to get us to understand what He was saying. This will be so clear that even a child can understand, so don't make it complicated. Jesus speaks with great clarity.

Matthew 13:37 "He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man;"

Now keep in mind that this man had good seed and He went out and sowed that seed in a good field, well prepared. The "Son of man" has to do with the Greek expression, "God in flesh". Another words, God sowed the good seed.

Remember that in the parable the seed was a grain of wheat, which represented a different seed, called "sperma", of the seed of man; a child.

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