If The General thesis being proposed in this special issue is true, it must be especially true of the parables Jesus spoke and the miracles he performed, because they comprise such a large part of the Gospel records. Many parables are introduced by a phrase such as, “The kingdom of heaven is like unto. . . “,’ and so it should be a straightforward task to demonstrate that on one level of meaning they contain teaching about the Millennial Kingdom. Whilst the same may not be so obviously true of miracles, the following exposition will argue that the same principle applies.
In order to demonstrate the principle, the parable of the sower and the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand will be considered in detail. Jesus went to great lengths to explain exactly why he used parables when he spoke that concerning the sower, and then interpreted every detail, thus setting it forward as an inspired model for the interpretation of parables. The feeding of the five thousand similarly stands, in certain respects, as a model miracle, in that Jesus gave a uniquely long discourse ( concerning the bread of life, in John 6) which arose specifically from the teaching behind this miracle. What is even more remarkable, this parable and this miracle, which are set forth as an example of how to interpret parables and miracles, share a common Old Testament source and a common lesson concerning the Kingdom.
Isaiah 55
The parable of the sower, in terms of the narrative, is certainly well enough known to readers not to need repeating here. Probably the dominant theme of the parable is the “seed”. In the words of Jesus, this is identified as “the word of the kingdom” (Mt. 13:19), which provides our first link between the parable and the Kingdom.
Similarly the phrase “received seed” is paralleled with “heareth the word” (vv. 19,20,22,23).
Now both this figure and its interpretation are lifted out of Isaiah 55:
“For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: so shall My word be that goeth forth out of My mouth: it shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto! sent it” (Isa. 55:10,11).
In the natural world God sends rain and snow from heaven to earth. By them the earth is caused to bring forth both seed to the sower and bread for those who need food. In the spiritual world God sent His Word from heaven, which was made flesh on earth in His Son. This beloved Son accomplished that which God purposed and pleased: “I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me” (Jno. 6:38). And in doing so he sowed the seed of the Word, and gave the bread of life.
It is also clear from the parable that the “sower” primarily represents Christ. This identification is specific in the parable of the tares: “He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man” (Mt. 13:37). Once again the figure has its source in Isaiah 55 as quoted.
What is also highly significant, relative to our theme, is that Isaiah immediately proceeds to speak of the Kingdom: “For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree” (55:12,13).
This connects with Isaiah’s earlier words: “the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads” (35:10). We infer therefore that the “ye” of 55:12 are the “ransomed of the Lord” who are given joy because the Word of God has gone forth and accomplished God’s purpose in them. It seems then that the Old Testament background of the parable of the sower is closely connected with “the ransomed of the Lord”.
Attention to context and detail reveals that the bread of life discourse arising from the feeding of the five thousand is also rooted in Isaiah 55. Four connections may be noted briefly to establish the link.
- John 6:16-21. Between the miracle and the discourse John records how the disciples were caught in a storm on Galilee and how Jesus came to them walking on the water and brought the boat safely to land. This is referred to slightly earlier in the Isaiah context: “O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires” (54:11).
- “Labour not for the meat which perisheth” (Jno. 6:27) is an allusion to Isaiah 55:2: “Wherefore do ye spend. . . your labour for that which satisfieth not?”.
- John 6:31-35. The references to “bread from heaven”, and the “bread of life” are deliberate contrasts with “that which is not bread” in Isaiah 55:2.
- John 6:31-33. “From heaven” is quoted, among other Old Testament sources, from Isaiah 55:10: “the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven”.
Like the parable of the sower, therefore, Christ’s teaching based on the miracle of feeding the five thousand is rooted in Isaiah 55. Notice also the jewels mentioned in the quotation from Isaiah 54. Verse 12 mentions agates, carbuncles and pleasant stones, clearly referring to glorified saints. “All thy children shall be taught of the Lord”, continues verse 13. This is quoted by Jesus in John 6:45, with the comment: “Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me”. Once again it speaks of the “ransomed of the Lord” who respond aright to the Word of God. The significance of emphasising the “ransomed of the Lord” will appear as the exposition progresses.
Hearing they hear not
Having noticed that the common source of the parable and miracle under consideration is Isaiah 55 we must now carefully note how Jesus relates his reason for beginning to speak in parables to another passage in Isaiah. Matthew, writing under inspiration, and with literally dozens of connections back to Isaiah in his Gospel, gives the fullest quotation: “in them (those who hear the parables but do not understand 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: for this people’s (Israel’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” (Mt. 13:14,15, quoted from Isa. 6:9,10).
This quotation was given as part of Jesus’s explanation as to why he had now begun to speak to the Jews in parables. It was because they had shown a deliberate disinclination to obey his word during the early part of his ministry. Just prior to giving the parable of the sower Jesus had referred to his Jewish contemporaries as “An evil and adulterous generation” and “this wicked generation” (Mt. 12:39,45). By their reaction to his teaching they had by this time shown themselves, as a nation and generation, unworthy of their Messiah.
So Jesus turned to parables, so that “Who hath ears to hear, let him hear” (Mt. 13:9). The only ones who would now, from this time on, truly see, hear, discern and understand his message would be those who, like the twelve, pondered on his words and, with a genuine desire to understand, sought an explanation from the Master (see Mk. 4:10). Hence Jesus could say to them: “blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear” (Mt. 13:16). Thus the commencement of the preaching by parables was a sign that Jesus, like Paul after him, was turning away from speaking to the Jews as a nation.
This helps to explain the sometimes puzzling enigma that Jesus preached much of the gospel in symbolic language, so that its meaning was ‘hidden’. In fact it was not hidden, nor was Jesus trying to hide it. Later in Matthew 13 Jesus explains his use of parables as a fulfilment of some words in the Psalms, which he applies to himself: “I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old: which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children” (Ps. 78:2-4).
The whole thrust of this passage is that certain teachings are being broadcast and explained. The phrase “open my mouth” does not convey the idea of anything secretive; nor does the word “utter” (Heb. naba), which has the sense of ‘publish’, as in “Day unto day uttereth speech” in the context of the heavens ‘declaring’ the glory of God (Ps. 19:1,2). Similarly, the word “parable” (Heb. mashal) speaks of conveying and not concealing something. It is the word used seven times in Numbers 23 and 24 of Balaam’s parables which revealed the future blessing of Yahweh that would come on Israel and their Christ. It is also used in Deuteronomy 28:37, translated “proverb”, to describe how Israel would become known( not concealed) as the very epitome of the curses of God.
Lastly on this point, note also how “parable” and “dark saying”(Heb. chidah) both occur in Psalm 49:4, and are paralleled with “wisdom” and “understanding” in verse 3. In other words, the “parables” and “dark sayings” of the Scriptures were things revealed, not hidden. They were the essential truths of God’s purpose recorded in the Old Testament, on which true men of God meditate and which they pass on from generation to generation. This is the message of Psalms 49 and 78. But the Jews of Christ’s day had ignored the teaching of their own inspired Scriptures, and so they also failed to recognise the Son of God.
Mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven
So Israel did not understand. But “it is given unto you (disciples) to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven” (Mt. 13:11). In using the word “mysteries” about the Kingdom Jesus is here signalling that the gospel of the Kingdom was not solely nor even especially being offered to natural Israel. It was being offered to all who would seek it and desire to understand and to obey, Gentiles included. A brief glance at the main references to “mystery” in the New Testament readily confirms that it speaks, not of something hidden and concealed, but of the opening up of the gospel to the Gentiles:
“I would not. . . that ye should be ignorant of this mystery. . . that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in” (Rom. 11:25).
” . . . the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets. . . made known to all nations for the obedience of faith” (Rom. 16:25,26). “We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery . . . which none of the princes of this world (Jewish leaders) knew” (1 Cor. 2:7).
” . . . having made known unto us the mystery of His will. . . that . . . He might gather together in one all things in Christ” (Eph. 1:9, 10). (Chapter 2 shows that this speaks of a union of Jew and Gentile in Christ.)
” . . . how that by revelation He made known unto me the mystery . . . which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; that the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel” (Eph. 3:3,5,6).
( See also Eph. 5:32 and Col. 1:26,27.)
The basic message of these verses is that the gospel of salvation is offered to men and women of every nation on the basis of the “obedience of faith”. The conditions that God requires man to fulfil are faith in His Word and obedience to its precepts. The message of the parable of the sower is that this is exactly what Jesus required also from all, whether Jew or Gentile.
The parable is all about the varied responses of people to the Word preached, and the only acceptable response is from the one represented by the “good ground”, who, in the words of Jesus, “received seed”, “heareth the word”, “understandeth it” and “beareth fruit” (Mt. 13:23). This is the “obedience of faith”. What the parable of the sower is telling us about the Kingdom is that these are the kind of people who will inherit the Kingdom.
The full force of this message from the parable was directed against the Jews, who thought that, by birth, as Abraham’s children, they were the children of the Kingdom. John the Baptist had earlier warned against such thinking, reminding the Jews that God could raise up children to Abraham from stones ( see Mt. 3:9).
That saying was pregnant with meaning, the phrase “raise up” punning on the concept of resurrection, and “stones” being a heavily ironic comment given the hard hearts for which Jesus later condemned them (cp. Mt. 19:8). The true “children of the kingdom” (cp. the parable of the tares—Mt. 13:38) were ( and are) those who respond aright to the Word preached, regardless of the nation to which they belong.
If only the Jews had read their Scriptures with perception they would have seen this principle implicit in the very words which constituted the nation as a kingdom. Yahweh said to Israel through Moses in Sinai: “ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests” (Ex. 19:6). But the promise was conditional: “if ye will obey My voice indeed” (v. 5).
‘Grounds’ in Isaiah
So then, the message concerning the Kingdom from the parable of the sower is that it reveals what kind of people will and will not be allowed to enter therein. These classes of people are represented by the various kinds of ground on which the seed fell in the parable. The supreme irony for the Jews who were “dull of hearing” is that all these grounds were explained in Isaiah, particularly as a rebuke of their national apostasy. The following brief selection of passages makes the point more than adequately:
“Way side”—”This is a rebellious people. . . which say. . . to the prophets . . . get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path” (Isa. 30:9-11). “The way of peace they know not . . . they have made them crooked paths” (59:8). Israel were out of the true way of life, by design, and they preferred it so. They despised God’s Word, so that, like the one represented by the “way side” who “understandeth it (the Word) not” (Mt. 13:19), their heart was waxed gross “lest . . . they . . . should understand” ( v. 15).
“Stony ground”—”He shall be for . . . a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel” (Isa. 8:14). Ultimately Jesus became the stone rejected by the builders converted into the chief corner stone and the head stone of the corner (cp. Ps. 118:22 and Mt. 21:42). Those represented by the stony ground in the parable first received the Word with joy, but later, due for example to persecution or tribulation, they were “offended” (Mt. 13:20,21). Such were those who heard the discourse on the bread of life. They said, “This is an hard saying; who can hear it?”, drawing the response from Jesus, “Doth this offend you?” (Jno. 6:60,61). Here, incidentally, is another connection between the parable of the sower and the feeding of the multitude/bread of life.
Ultimately both of these former kinds of ground are to be put to rights: “Go through . . . prepare ye the way of the people; cast up . . .the highway; gather out the stones”. Then will be revealed the true “daughter of Zion”, that is, “The holy people, The redeemed of the Lord” (Isa. 62:10-12). These are the “children of the kingdom”.
“Thorns”—”I will tell you what I will do to My vineyard (because it brought forth “wild grapes”) . . . I will lay it waste. . . there shall come up briers and thorns” (Isa. 5:2,5,6). Once again, the thorny ground prefigures apostate Israel. But when God’s Word accomplishes its purpose with faithful men of all nations, “Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree” (Isa. 55:13). This leads on naturally to the
“Good ground”—”The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly . . . in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert” (Isa. 35:1,2,6). This whole chapter is a beautiful description of both the natural and spiritual restoration and resuscitation that will take place in the Kingdom. On the spiritual plane it is a graphic representation of the fruitfulness of the good ground due to hearing and understanding the Word (see the process in Mt. 13:23). And the context links with the central theme we have identified: “the ransomed of the Lord shall return” (Isa. 35:10).
These redeemed are those who respond to the Word with good and honest hearts and who thus bear fruit. It is they, and not Israel after the flesh, who are the children of the Kingdom.
It is appropriate to note at this point that this central theme is in fact clearly stated in Isaiah 55, which was earlier identified as the common source of the parable of the sower and the miracle of feeding the multitude: “Incline your ear, and come unto Me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people.
Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee because of the Lord thy God” (vv. 3-5). Israel’s Messiah was given as a leader to all nations, so that those who willingly responded to the call of the gospel could enter the Davidic covenant, and thus ” live”. The fact that this is stated so clearly in Isaiah 55 provides the link to a brief consideration of how the same basic message is portrayed by the miracle of feeding the multitudes and the ensuing discourse.
Feeding the multitudes
There are two unique features about the miracles involving the feeding of thousands from only a few loaves and fishes. Firstly, what was essentially the same miracle was performed twice: once four thousand were fed and on the other occasion five thousand. Secondly, the feeding of the five thousand gave rise to a long doctrinal discourse from Jesus on the bread of life.
These features draw special attention to these miracles, and make them models for how to interpret miracles. What is now submitted, briefly, is that these features illustrate that, with reference to the Kingdom of God, the feeding of the five thousand is teaching us about the kind of people that will be in it; essentially it is the same message as emerged from the parable of the sower.
It is, however, a puzzling fact ( at first sight) that when told to beware of Pharisaical leaven the disciples privately reason that it was because they had taken no bread. Jesus then applies the rebuke of Isaiah 6 (previously applied to the Jews after the parable of the sower) to the disciples ( see Mk. 8:15-21). The tone is one of sympathetic pleading and beseeching from Christ to the disciples that surely they ought to be able now, as true children of the Kingdom, to perceive the spiritual lessons of the miracles. Jesus then gives them an object lesson to open their eyes. Peter’s ensuing confession of faith on behalf of the disciples shows that he had succeeded.
Back at Bethsaida, as this object lesson, Jesus heals a blind man in two stages, who, at the intermediate stage, declared, “I see men as trees, walking” (Mk. 8:24). Given the quotation from Isaiah 6 that immediately precedes this, it seems there could well be a link back to that chapter in this enigmatic statement Isaiah 6:9-12 foretold Jewish apostasy and the consequent desolation and scattering of A.D. 70. But the chapter closes with a prophecy concerning the faithful remnant: “the holy seed shall be the substance thereof” (v. 13).
The re-population of the land by this holy seed is likened to an oak or teil tree “whose substance (mg., stock or stem) is in them”. This substance seems to refer in the natural sense to the genetic basis for life which remains in a tree even when lopped down. On the spiritual plane this is equivalent to faith; so “faith is the substance of things hoped for” (Heb. 11:1). It is possible that this blind man, in expressing his faith in Jesus, is lifting from Isaiah 6 a figure of speech which speaks of faith and establishes the principle in the context that faith in God and not natural Jewish descent is the key to salvation. Certainly Peter did not miss the point. His response was, “Thou art the Christ” (Mk. 8:29).
Finally in our exposition, we note that in his discourse on the bread of life the overwhelming theme of Jesus is the same. The Jews were rebuked for looking at him and his works and teaching from a materialistic standpoint, whereas the true disciples, those who would “(eat) of this bread (and) live for ever” (Jno. 6:58), perceived the spiritual import in all that he said and did. It was again a contrast between Jewish unbelief—”ye also have seen me, and believe not” (v. 36)—and the response of the true disciple of whatever race—”I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst” (v. 35). It was not a question of birth, but of being drawn by the Father (v. 44).
Then, quite remarkably, in the middle of that discourse, Jesus takes his hearers back again to Isaiah 54, and to the context( along with chapter 55) where we started this exposition: “It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God (cp. Isa. 54:13). Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me” (Jno. 6:45). Hence the essence of the call of the gospel was portrayed in both parable and miracle: that salvation was offered to all who would hear, learn and obey God’s Word, regardless of their birth.
Such are the children of the Kingdom. Such will be the Lord’s jewels in the day when he comes to reign. “Incline your ear, and come unto Me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. . . I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires. And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones. . . and great shall be the peace of thy children” (Isa. 55:3; 54:11-13).
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One