Parables of the Kingdom

The parable of the Sower and the Seed was the first illustration that Jesus presented to His listeners
about the kingdom of heaven. The parable revealed that people respond to the Word of God in a variety
of ways, with most of them eventually rejecting it. Initially, some hear the good news about Jesus Christ
with eagerness and joy, but later they decide to have nothing to do with Him. Those who hear, respond,
and continue to believe in God are Christians. That is the message of the good soil. Jesus’ parables about
the kingdom of heaven were taught after He was rejected by the religious leaders of His day and after His
pronouncement of judgment upon them and their generation (Matthew 12:39, 41-42). All of the
parables reveal how the kingdom of heaven has functioned and will continue to function. The parables
also reveal how the human race is responding and will continue to respond to God and His Word. There
are eight more kingdom parables to explore. This study will explore all of them.

1. Parable Of The Wheat And Tares

The parable that Jesus gave after the “Sower and the Seed” was about two plants: wheat and tares.

Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man
who sowed good seed in his field. But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares
among the wheat, and went away. But when the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became
evident also.” Matthew 13:24-26 (NASB)

The parable is about a sower who sows good seed. The good seed starts to grow, but some tares also
start growing along with it. A tare is an obnoxious weed that is often infected with fungus and
sometimes has a poisonous narcotic in its seeds.[1] The tares look like wheat until they are fully grown.

The slaves of the landowner came and said to him, “Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How
then does it have tares?” And he said to them, “An enemy has done this!” The slaves said to him, “Do
you want us, then, to go and gather them up?” But he said, “No; for while you are gathering up the tares,
you may uproot the wheat with them. Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of
the harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up;
but gather the wheat into my barn.” Matthew 13:27-30 (NASB)

When the owner of the field heard about the tares, he instructed his servants to wait until both were
fully grown. Then he would be able to separate the tares from the wheat.

The message of this parable is that it is sometimes difficult, if not impossible, to determine the real
Christians from the false Christians. There are many non-Christians who are kind, gentle, gracious, and
loving. They look like and act like Christians, but they are not. But God knows, and when the end of time
comes, God will remove the Christ rejectors and send them into the Lake of Fire for eternity. But
Christians will go to His “barn” or heaven.

2. Parable Of The Lamp

The next parable that Jesus presented after the “Sower and the Seed” was the mysterious parable about
the lamp. It is recorded only in the book of Mark and nowhere else. Here is the parable.

And He was saying to them, “A lamp is not brought to be put under a basket, is it, or under a bed? Is it
not brought to be put on the lampstand? For nothing is hidden, except to be revealed; nor has anything
been secret, but that it would come to light. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” Mark 4:21-23
(NASB)

The lamp that Jesus referred to was a small bowl containing olive oil. The lamp was usually placed on a
shelf or on a table in order to provide light to a room. Clearly, no one lights a lamp, brings it into a room,
and then places it under a basket or under a bed unless he or she are searching for something under the
bed. (When I taught this passage some months ago, a dear man said, “Yes, you wouldn’t want to put it
under a bed because it would burn up the bed.” That was just a humorous comment, and it was not
Jesus’ point.)

Parables of the The Lamp and the Mustard Seed

Jesus’ point is found in the next two verses.

And He was saying to them, “Take care what you listen to. By your standard of measure it will be
measured to you; and more will be given you besides. For whoever has, to him more shall be given; and
whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.” Mark 4:24-25 (NASB)

Jesus uses a play-on-words in the statement, “Take care what you listen to.” The Greek word that is
translated as “take care” is BLEPO. It’s basic meaning is “to see.” What Jesus was really saying is, “See
what you hear.” He was encouraging them and us to listen to His teachings – the Word of God or the
Word of the Kingdom. They were “to listen to the light.” The lamp was symbolic of Jesus’ teachings or
the Word of God. Psalm 119 reveals that the Word is like a lamp. It lights our path.

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Psalm 119:105 (NASB)
Now we are ready to understand this parable. The first part of the parable tells us that the Word of God
cannot be hidden or suppressed. The religious leaders and other opponents of Jesus Christ could
attempt to suppress His teachings, the Word of God, but they would eventually fail. There are some
today who want to suppress Jesus and His teachings. Increasingly we are hearing voices which claim that
Christianity needs to be suppressed. But this parable indicates that they will be unsuccessful.

Those who hear the Word of God need to focus on it. Jesus’ listeners should not have listened to the
Pharisees. They should not have listened to false teachers and neither should we. We are not to listen to
messages from the pit of darkness but from the light. Those who are careful about what they hear will
gain more spiritual insight, and those who enjoy the message of the darkness will lose what little
spiritual insight they do have. The standard that we use is that those who seek spiritual truth will gain
more spiritual insight, and those who settle for spiritual darkness will be spiritually dark. We are to listen
to the light – the message of the kingdom. That is the meaning of this parable.

3. Parable Of The Seed

The parable of the seed is not the same as the “Sower and the Seed.” This parable has a different
message. Mark 4:26 records the parable.

And He was saying, “The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil; and he goes to bed
at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts and grows—how, he himself does not know.” Mark
4:26-27 (NASB)

The parable reveals that the kingdom of heaven has started growing and will continue to grow by itself.

The soil produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head. But
when the crop permits, he immediately puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come. Mark 4:28-29
(NASB)

The end of the kingdom will come when the harvest is complete. The harvest includes seed that started
growing beside the road, among the rocks, among the thorns, and on good soil. Unfortunately, only the
seed that landed on good soil will grow to maturity and ultimately be harvested. The parable is simple. It
tells us that the kingdom will grow by itself and eventually come to harvest. It cannot be stopped. The
message of this parable is that the kingdom will grow.
 4. Parable Of The Mustard Seed

The parable of the mustard seed is about a very small seed that grows into a very large tree. Here is
Jesus’ parable,

And He said, “How shall we picture the kingdom of God, or by what parable shall we present it? It is like
a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the soil, though it is smaller than all the seeds that are upon
the soil, yet when it is sown, it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and forms large
branches; so that the birds of the air can nest under its shade.” Mark 4:30-32 (NASB)

For anyone who objects to the statement that the mustard seed is the smallest of seeds, the following
should help to clarify the situation.

Dr. L. H. Shinners, director of the herbarium at Southern Methodist University in Dallas and lecturer at
the Smithsonian Institution, stated in a conversation that, “the mustard seed would indeed have been
the smallest of those to have been noticed by the people at the time of Christ. The principal field crops
(barley, wheat, lentils, and beans) have much larger seeds, as do other plants which might have been
present as weeds and so forth. There are various weeds and wild flowers belonging to the mustard,
amaranth, pigweed, or chickweed families with seeds that are as small as or smaller than mustard; but
they would not have been known or noticed by the inhabitants. They are wild and they certainly would
not have been planted as a crop . . . The only modern crop plant in existence with smaller seeds than
mustard is tobacco, and this plant of American origin was not grown in the old world until the sixteenth
century or later.”[2]

So Jesus referred to a plant that the audience would have understood starts out very small, almost dust-
like, and becomes very large. In Matthew 13:31-32, the same parable is recorded, but there we are told
that the mustard seed becomes a tree. Multiple sources indicate that the Palestine mustard plant can
grow to twelve or fifteen feet in height. It is tall enough for the birds to nest in and hide under from the
sun.

Some believe that the birds of the air are symbolic of demons and demonic activity. They believe the
birds are the same as those in the parable of the “Sower and Seed” in Matthew 13:4. There we are told
that the birds ate the seed that fell beside the road.Matthew 13:19 indicates that the birds are symbolic
of the evil one who comes and takes away the Word of God so that people will not believe. Thus they
conclude that all birds represent demonic activity. But the rest of scripture does not always refer to birds
in a negative sense. In Matthew 6:26; 8:20; Luke 12:24; and James 3:7, birds are viewed in a positive
sense.

Jesus’ parable very closely resembles the illustration given in Ezekiel 17:22-24 where God promised the
Jews that He would establish Israel as a kingdom some day. In that passage God used the illustration of a
sprig from a cedar tree that He would cultivate and grow into a tree. Eventually, the birds of every kind
would nest under it. The birds in the Ezekiel passage represent the different nations of the world. Jesus
and the ancient Israelites would have been familiar with the Ezekiel passage. This reveals that the point
of Jesus’ parable of the mustard seed is that the kingdom of God will become enormous and spread over
all the other kingdoms eventually becoming the greatest kingdom.

5. Parable Of The Leaven

Jesus’ next parable is about a small lump of leaven that is put into some flour and eventually permeates
all of the dough. In some ways it is similar to the parable of the mustard seed.

He spoke another parable to them, “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid
in three pecks of flour until it was all leavened.” Matthew 13:33 (NASB)

Some have concluded that the leaven has a negative meaning. It is important to notice that although
leaven generally has a negative meaning in scripture, there are times when the meaning is positive.
Leviticus 23:17 is a positive example. Notice that the kingdom of God is described as being like leaven. If
the leaven has a negative meaning, then the kingdom of God has a negative meaning. Therefore, it is
best to understand the leaven as simply an illustration of the fact that the kingdom of God will eventually
be everywhere. It will be in every part of the world and in every city. The parable of the mustard seed
taught us that the kingdom of God will be the greatest kingdom, and the parable of the leaven reveals
that the kingdom will be everywhere at the end of the age.

At this point the Holy Spirit reminds us once again that Jesus spoke to the crowd only in parables and in
no other way. He spoke in parables because they had rejected Him.

All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables, and He did not speak to them without a parable.
This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: “I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter
things hidden since the foundation of the world.” Matthew 13:34-35 (NASB)

For a fuller explanation as to why Jesus spoke only in parables, please see the previous study about the
“Sower and the Seed.”
 6. The parable of the “Hidden Treasure” is very short – one verse.

The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from
joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Matthew 13:44 (NASB)

Jesus does not describe the treasure or the field. That is not important to the parable. In Jesus’ day only
wealthy people had financial banks for their riches. They would construct a building and then hire guards
to protect their valuables. But there were no banks for the common person. As a result most people
would bury their valuables in the ground inside their homes or out in a field. In this parable someone
had hidden his treasure in his field. Unexpectedly, some man accidentally found it, probably while he
was digging. Rather than tell the owner of the field, he quickly sold everything that he had and
purchased the field from the unsuspecting and forgetful owner. Once he had bought the field, the
treasure was his.

7. Parable Of The Costly Pearl

The next parable about the costly pearl has the same basic meaning.

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great
value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it. Matthew 13:45-46 (NASB)

This time Jesus uses two Greek words to communicate the idea that this individual was very wealthy. The
first Greek word is “all,” and the second word is “as many as” or “great.” The second word is not
translated in our English Bibles. But both words together indicate that all of his many things were sold.
This person was extremely rich, and he sacrificed everything he had in order to purchase the pearl. In
the parable of the “Hidden Treasure,” the person sold all that he had. But the wealthy man in this
parable buys the pearl after sacrificing his many riches. His sacrifice was very great. Both men sacrificed.
The average man and the rich man sacrificed all to obtain the kingdom of God. Jesus used both parables
to tell us how valuable the kingdom of heaven truly is.

Both parables teach us that we must be willing to sacrifice our treasures if we want to belong in the
kingdom. What are your treasures? We all have them: entertainment, books, a boat, sex, money, stocks
and bonds, status, church, ministry, a leadership position, friends, the kids, or the family. Are you willing
to sacrifice them for God? If you are unwilling to sacrifice everything, then you are not like the man in
the parable of the “Hidden Treasure” or the “Costly Pearl.” They sold everything. Jesus said this,
He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter
more than Me is not worthy of Me. Matthew 10:37 (NASB)

And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to come after Me,
he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.” Mark 8:34 (NASB)

This is the message of these parables. Anyone who desires to be in the kingdom of God must be willing
to sacrifice everything for Him. Only then can one enter the kingdom of God.

8. Parable Of The Dragnet

The final parable is about a dragnet.

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea, and gathering fish of every kind; and
when it was filled, they drew it up on the beach; and they sat down and gathered the good fish into
containers, but the bad they threw away. Matthew 13:47-48 (NASB)

In ancient times the dragnet, or sagene in the Greek, was a very large, weighted net that was dragged
along the bottom of a lake and then pulled together in a semicircle. Eventually the net would be pulled
together and brought onto the beach. Then the undesirable fish would be removed and the good ones
kept. The first part of this parable states the obvious. Then He added this,

So it will be at the end of the age; the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the
righteous, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing
of teeth. Matthew 13:49-50 (NASB)

In the same way, just as fishermen remove the bad fish, the angels will remove the wicked souls and
keep the righteous ones. The wicked will go into eternal punishment, but the righteous will have eternal
life with God. Since Jesus said this place exits, and since He described it the way He did, then it must be
real and miserable. Jesus’ description of eternal punishment does not sound like a place I want to visit,
let alone live in the rest of my life.

Comments To Disciples

After Jesus was finished with these revealing parables, Jesus wanted to know if the disciples understood
them.
Have you understood all these things? They *said to Him, “Yes.” Matthew 13:51 (NASB)

They answered, “Yes.” Then Jesus encouraged the disciples to share the new truths that they had
discovered.

And Jesus said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is
like a head of a household, who brings out of his treasure things new and old.” When Jesus had finished
these parables, He departed from there. Matthew 13:52-53 (NASB)

They had old treasures and now new ones. They were to bring them out for the guests and share them.
Then Jesus left the crowds and departed.

Summary of the Kingdom Parables

Conclusion

The parables of the kingdom paint a great picture. They reveal that the kingdom of God is growing and
expanding in the hearts of men and women. Some will listen and respond, willingly sacrificing
themselves to gain spiritual life. A man or woman cannot come to God, believe in Jesus Christ, and then
continue living as always. One who comes to Jesus will be willing to give up everything that he or she
has. This is the test of true faith. When a person believes in Jesus Christ, his or her sins are forgiven; but
the sign or the characteristic of true faith is a willingness to sacrifice oneself for God. Does this sound like
you? Are you a disciple of the kingdom of God?

The kingdom is moving from nation to nation and around the world. Now it is only a spiritual kingdom.
But some day it will exist everywhere when Jesus establishes His earthly kingdom for 1,000 years. Then
He will be Lord of lords and King of kings and every person will submit. People will have the opportunity
to respond to God and believe in Jesus Christ during that time. At the end of the kingdom, the wicked of
all the ages will be sent to the Lake of Fire for eternity. However, the righteous will enter God’s eternal
heaven and live with Him forever.