Parables Of The Kingdom – The First - The Sower Or Rather The Soil – Part 1 Of 7 Series

PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM – THE FIRST - THE SOWER OR RATHER THE SOIL – Part 1 of 7

THE INTRODUCTION TO THE SERIES

We are going to study the seven parables Jesus spoke to the people. Matthew states the setting for these – {{Matthew 13:1-2 “On that day Jesus WENT OUT OF THE HOUSE and was sitting by the sea, and great multitudes gathered to Him so that He got into a boat and sat down, and the whole multitude was standing on the beach.”}}

It appears that the first 4 parables were spoken to the multitude with Jesus in the boat so He could address them. After those 4 He went again into the house – {{Matthew 13:36 Then He left the multitudes and WENT INTO THE HOUSE and His disciples came to Him saying, “Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.”}} The last three parables are special and in a different class, though still belonging to the parables of the Kingdom.

Matthew is the only Gospel to use the terms “the Kingdom of Heaven,” and “the Gospel of the Kingdom.” Matthew is the Gospel of the King. MARK is the Gospel of the Servant. LUKE is the Gospel of the Son of Man and John is the Gospel of the Son of God (and God the Son).

Matthew presents Jesus as the King of the Jews and is a very Jewish Gospel. We must recognise that. It is the Holy Spirit’s direction. That is why you have the teaching on the end of the age and the Jewish saints in the Tribulation, and the Second Coming, all that in Chapters 24 and 25. We do more on that later when we present the last three parables sometime in the future, God willing.

As Matthew is writing his Gospel with a Jewish outlook it is fitting that all seven parables are covered since they outline the prophetic timeframe in operation throughout this age. The Jews are vitally interconnected with God’s timetable, so it is fitting that these parables, with associated teachings, be presented in his gospel in their completion. Jesus is spelling out the history of this age from the sowing of the gospel seed in the beginning to certain of the events that are to be situated at the ending (consummation) of the age.

Luke is presenting his gospel to the members of the church as a Gentile, so divine inspiration led him not to include any of the other six parables. He features the Sower because the truth extracted from it is applicable to the preaching of the word in every age and generation. It applied in Noah’s time, in Elijah’s time; true also for Jesus, Paul, our time, and in the coming Great Tribulation preaching. This parable therefore is presented as the great discernment into all gospel preaching and the sum of resultant responses.

THE FIRST OF THESE KINGDOM PARABLES – THE SOWER

There is a most important reason why this parable stands as the first one, because it lays down principles for the entire preaching of God’s message, both in the Church age and in the seven year Tribulation. The remaining 6 parables would be disjoint if not connected with the Sower.

The scripture for the Sower is this – {{Matthew 13:3-4 “He spoke many things to them in parables saying, “Behold, THE SOWER WENT OUT TO SOW, and as he sowed, some seeds FELL BESIDE THE ROAD, and the birds came and ate them up.”}}

{{Matthew 13:5-6 “Others FELL UPON THE ROCKY PLACES where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up because they had no depth of soil, but when the sun had risen they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away.”}}

{{Matthew 13:7 “Others FELL AMONG THE THORNS and the thorns came up and choked them out,”}}

{{Matthew 13:8-9 “and others FELL ON THE GOOD SOIL and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear.”}}

The sketches of sowers done by illustrators are not far off the mark of historical fact. All sowing was done by hand, the seed being in a bag attached to the sower or in a container he carried. There was an art in being able to broadcast the seed correctly so it fell evenly distributed with all the ground being covered properly. The sower had to sow at the PREMIUM TIME, i.e. The soil was properly prepared and the expectation of the first rains was at hand.

His seed had to be of the BEST QUALITY. There are parts of the world where the best of the harvest is eaten and the inferior seed is retained for next year’s planting. The sower in the parable operates on a different principle. He was no one in particular, no famous person, no chief city personality, just a person gifted in that area and skilled through experience.