Matthew 13:3 And He spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow;
4 And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the wayside, and the fowls came and devoured them up.
I want to point out something here in verse 4 I don’t think we’ve talked about or even mentioned. A sower went forth to sow; And when he sowed, some [seeds] fell by the wayside. Seeds is in italics; it is not in the original. The Greek reads slightly different in that first phrase: and when he sowed. It has much more meaning: Behold, a sower went forth to sow; and in the sowing of him, some fell by the wayside.
In the sowing of him. This is what the Lord is doing. He is sowing Himself into our hearts and our spirits that He might be resurrected within us.
With this thought, let’s go to John 12.
John 12:20-25 And there were certain Greeks among them came up to worship at the feast:
21 The same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus.
22 Philip cometh and telleth Andrew: and again Andrew and Philip tell Jesus.
23 And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.
24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
25 He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
This is the seed the sower sows, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground. Christ is that corn of wheat that is sowed in our hearts that springs forth the mighty harvest. It is the sowing of Himself.
Now, back to Matthew 13.
Matthew 13:31-32 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.
32 Which indeed is the least of all seeds…
The Lord is sowing Himself into the people that He possesses until they become of Him. It is always the least! He that is greatest among you, shall be the servant of all, shall be the least (Matthew 23:11).
Matthew 13:32 …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.
The tree is the Body of Christ. Let’s go to Luke 17. In the first few verses in this chapter, Jesus is talking to His disciples about offenses and forgiveness. We’ll start with verse 5 and the disciples’ response.
Luke 17:5-6 And the apostles said unto the Lord, increase our faith.
6 And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.
If you had the faith of the mustard seed, which is the least of all seed, but the mustard seed is pure mustard. If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed. This verse came to me during the night last night. It’s talking about miracle faith here: If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine (mulberry) tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you. Speak a word and that mulberry tree will be pulled up by its roots and set down in the sea. So, if you have the faith of a grain of mustard seed, you can work miracles.
But here is the catch. You don’t have the faith of a mustard seed. That is why the word “if” is there. But if you had it….but you don’t have it, so you can’t. What do you do? That is why we need that seed in us and coming forth in us because the Lord is the mustard seed! He is the one who has the faith.
Now you remember, in every one of the parables in Matthew 13, the Kingdom of heaven is presented as a mixture. Every time God does something, the enemy comes along to dilute it. When Israel came out of Egypt under the hand of Moses, the outer camp was a mixture of Egyptians and whoever came with them. That’s where the battle always came. The marauding bands and others would attack and hit the outskirts of the camp. Whenever God does something, the enemy will come in like a flood.
My one thought here is that we are not going to develop a mustard seed faith. We are going to let the Lord be the mustard seed, let Him be the faith, let Him come forth in us. We cannot change ourselves. The Lord has to change it. He must be our faith.
I have heard so many Christians talk about their faith, their faith, their faith. I’m sorry, but you don’t have any faith. If faith is there, you have received it from the Lord, and it is Him. Paul said in one of his letters, “What do you have that you didn’t receive, and if you received it, why do you boast?” (I Corinthians 4:7).
Matthew 13:33-35 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.
34 All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake He not unto them:
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.
That is rich. Again, there are two schools of thought. One school of thought is that leaven is what one puts in the flour to make it rise and it permeates, goes all through it. The whole thing is leavened. You can put a little leaven in the mixture, and it will work until the whole mixture is leavened. So, some people say that is the way the Kingdom is. God puts a little bit of Kingdom in us and it just permeates until the Kingdom comes forth in the world.
Another school of thought is that this woman is the harlot, spiritual Babylon the harlot, and she is putting out measures of leaven. Leaven everywhere in the Bible represents something evil, wicked, something bad. Jesus told His disciples, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees” (Mark 8:15). They thought He was talking about the fact that they didn’t bring any bread. But He was telling them, “Beware of their teachings. They’re going to put this leaven in there.”
What kind of doctrines or teachings would come that would be so deceptive? There won’t be many people deceived by doctrines that are incorrect. There will be some, but what people are deceived by mostly is when someone is speaking truths, things that are correct, things that you believe in, things that you would accept, but the spirit in them is a wrong spirit. By accepting it, you are partaking of the leaven in that word. Then the leaven gets in you and it works until it would consume you. First thing you know, you have been taken over by the leaven.
Here again, just like the birds come and nest in the branches of the mustard tree, this woman is putting leaven in the meal. I tend to go along with that because every other parable is speaking basically the same thing - that there is a mixture in the Kingdom. Even in a natural kingdom you see the same thing. You have the king, the king’s family, all the lords and earls, the working class, and the peons. Then you have the lower caste of people and the robbers, crooks, highwaymen and all those things. All of these are in a kingdom.
Verses 47-48 of the same chapter tell us that the Kingdom of heaven is likened unto a net that is thrown out into the sea and pulls in fish of all kinds. Then the bad fish are thrown out. Just like the harvest has all these tares in the field (Matthew 13:24-30). The tares are taken out first. The bad fish, the bad tares, don’t you worry. This leaven will be taken out.
All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake He not unto them. Let’s look at a few verses in Psalm 78.
Psalm 78:1-4 Give ear, O My people, to My law: incline your ears to the words of My mouth.
2 I will open My mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old:
3 Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.
4 We will not hide them from their children, showing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and His strength, and His wonderful works that He hath done.
The generation to come - that goes in with Psalm 102:18, This is written for the generation to come. That generation is the one from Genesis 1:27, the creation of man, of a man company.
I will open My mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old. The Lord has a way of saying things in such a simple way that unless you are simple, you cannot understand what He is saying. These dark sayings are mysteries; it is secret. In Exodus it speaks of God being in the darkness. Now darkness in that sense is not speaking of something bad or evil, but that which is darkness you cannot see. So, when it says, “God is in the darkness,” that means to the people He is unseen. They cannot see Him, can’t detect Him. But then, Jesus tells His disciples, “You are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14). For those in which He is coming forth, there is light in them. They are not hidden by the dark parables, etc.
I will open My mouth in a parable. I have mentioned this before because Matthew 5 talks about the same thing, using this phrase “I will open My mouth.” That sounds like unnecessary English. Every time you speak, you open your mouth. But it is a Hebrew idiom, “I will open My mouth,” means that something is being spoken that is beyond the ability for the normal man to hear or to understand. That is the reason Jesus says, “If you have ears to hear, hear what I’m saying,” because He is turning loose things that are in darkness to most people.
Copyright © 2009 by Henry DuBose