TH E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
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sowed, now He Himself sows in the world field,—in Jerusalem, Judea, Sa maria, the uttermost parts of the earth. The personality of Satin is fully es tablished in these parables by our Lord Himself. How foolish in some to deny that there are contending forces—op posing forces; that there is no evil; all is good; all is God! Such teaching is an illustration of the truth taught in these parables; it is Satan’s work. Note also that there is never any change in the character of the seed. Wheat is always wheat; tares always tares. The tares are never assimilated and become wheat, but according to God’s primal and well-established law, each brings forth after its kind. In the parable of the sower, the seed is the Word; in this parable, the seed is the children of the kingdom, made so by the sowing of the Word,—and the bad seed is the children of the evil one, the Devil. The different seed resemble one another, and are not always to be distinguished. There is no definite way by which we can tell. We may think we know, but the King at the harvest time will separate them and assign each to their eternal destiny. Some will claim to have prophesied in His name, and in His name to have cast out demons, but He does not know them, and they will be cast out to be burned. (3) The Woman and the Leaven. In the parable of the mustard seed and of the leaven, we have two aspects of the Kingdom, which correspond. One gives the development of a little seed into a great tree,—one of abnormal growth from such a tiny seed, illus trating the development of the king dom: Twelve apostles, seventy disci ples, a hundred and twenty at Pente cost, three thousand from the preaching of Peter. (Rom. 1:8.) “First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is
of a soldier on land, indicates that he is a subject of a human ruler. (1) The World Field. The word “world” has various mean ings in Scripture. The English words not always being true equivalents of the original Greek and Hebrew are sometimes confusing. “World” is used for the earth, the cosmos (the habita tion of man), and the age; in a material sense, of the globe; in a social sense, of the race, and in a chronological sense, of an indefinite time. Here in verses 39, 40 and 49, the word refers to the age—a period of time. Our Lord says “the field is the world”. Here the word refers to the material world. The seat of the king dom as viewed here is the earth. The earth is a battle-ground. The contend ing forces are Christ and Satan. The beginning of the story is found in Gen esis, Chapters 1 to 3, where the sceptre which Adam held was forfeited by him by reason of his sin and passed into the hands of Satan, who became the prince of this world, and is also—as Paul says —“the god of this age.” Here on this earth the thrilling story of a wicked world—the conflict of the ages—and the consummation of God’s purpose, are, all enacted; and these par ables embrace in a few words the scope of it all, including the Son of Man, Satan, Israel, the Church and the Na tions. (2) The Wheat and the Tares. Here we have two sowers; (1) A sower, v. 3; a man,, v. 24; Son of Man, v. 41,—all relating to the sowing of the seed, and all referring to our Lord Jesus Christ. (2) The wicked one, in vs. 19 and 38; and the enemy, in v. 25, —referring, of course, to Satan. Here are two kinds of seed, also: (1) The wheat, the good seed; (2) The tares, the bad seed. Our Lord sows good seed. Here is a new thing in the earth. The prophets
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