26   And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed upon the earth;
      27   and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should spring up and grow, he knoweth not how.
      28   The earth beareth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.
      29   But when the fruit is ripe, straightway he putteth forth the sickle, because the harvest is come.
      30   And he said, How shall we liken the kingdom of God? or in what parable shall we set it forth?
      31   It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown upon the earth, though it be less than all the seeds that are upon the earth,
      32   yet when it is sown, groweth up, and becometh greater than all the herbs, and putteth out great branches; so that the birds of the heaven can lodge under the shadow thereof.
      33   And with many such parables spake he the word unto them, as they were able to hear it;
      34   and without a parable spake he not unto them: but privately to his own disciples he expounded all things.

Questions and Brief Comments.

Verses 26, 27. How does the Kingdom of God begin its existence? What is the seed? (Luke 8:11). Who sows it? Where? Why there? Does the seed grow? Why does it grow? (Comp. Isa. 55:10, 11).

Verses 28, 29. Once the seed is lodged, what does the earth do of itself? All at once or stepwise? When is the growth complete? When does the Man take a hand again? What will he do in the harvest? (Matt. 13:30, 39-43).

Verses 30-32. By what other parable does Jesus set forth the Kingdom of God? Does it have a very small beginning? Is it destined to great things?

Verses 33, 34. Why did the Lord use parables? What other reason is given in verses 11, 12 of this chapter (Mark 4)?

NOTES AND TEACHING POINTS.

THE SEED CAST ON THE EARTH.

      "So is the kingdom of God." The points of comparison are--

      1. That the Kingdom of God begins with the casting of a seed in the earth. The seed is the word of God--the word of the gospel. Luke 8:11.

      2. That the seed is left to itself to do its work. There is no direct, personal interference on the Lord's part during this time. The King is absent during this period of development.

      3. When the fruit is ripe He steps in again and takes a hand "because the harvest is come."

      The casting of the seed upon the earth includes the whole beginning of the gospel--the personal ministry of our Lord, His death and resurrection, the descent of the Spirit and the whole apostolic age with its supernatural manifestations. Not until the whole revelation had been supernaturally given and set on its way could it be said that the seed was cast upon the earth.

      The Blade, the Ear, the Full Grain. There follows a long season of growth and development, during which the great Sower is absent and does not in Person interfere with the natural progress of things. All seems to be [58] left to itself, and to work along of itself. In fact, however, the Sower keeps His eye on all, providentially guiding, directing, protecting, answering prayer, bestowing gifts and blessings from on high. But His miraculous and direct interposition is not to be looked for during this period.

      The Harvest. When the fruit is ripe. Then all comes to an issue. The Kingdom which all along existed on earth in its preparatory and developing state now reaches its completion and crisis. The Lord Himself now steps in and "the harvest of the earth is reaped." (Rev. 14:14-16.) In the kindred parable of "the Wheat and the Tares," the harvest is "the consummation of the age." (R. V. margin, instead of the misleading rendering, "the end of the world.") Matt. 13:39. Then will the righteous shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of the Father.

THE PARABLE OF THE MUSTARD SEED.

      This parable teaches that the Kingdom of God begins with a seed of very small beginning ("less than all seeds") but is destined to attain to a great and imposing magnitude.

      The growth, however, is not outward and visible. Throughout this age, until the Lord Himself comes back, the Kingdom of God will count for little in the world. Those who represent it are never a great multitude, not many noble, not many mighty, but always a comparative few, and these, like their Lord, "rejected and by the world disowned." And the last days of this age will be worse in this respect, rather than better. (Luke 18:8; 2 Tim. 3:1). The great ecclesiastical systems and governments of Rome, and the Greek Church, and some Protestant imitations of those, do not represent the Kingdom of God. The real Kingdom of God in its total and full manifestation will be revealed in the time of the harvest, as seen in the foregoing parable.

PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM.

      This parable of the Mustard-seed is found in Matt. 13 also, where in a series of seven parables the Lord Jesus sets forth "the mysteries of the Kingdom of God." The first two of these parables (The Sower, and the Wheat and Tares) are interpreted to us by the Lord; the rest (the last perhaps excepted) are not interpreted to us. In the parable of the Sower we learn that the success of the seed sown will be very limited--on only one out of four sorts of ground will it come to fruitage. In the parable of the Wheat and Tares we learn that even where the wheat grows tares will be found mingled with it, and the separation will not take place till the end of the age, the harvest.

      Now we must not interpret the uninterpreted parables (the Mustard seed and the Leaven) so as to make them contradict the parables which the Lord Himself explained. We must not make them teach that the true church will grow until it occupies and controls the whole world, or till the whole world is "leavened by the gospel." For that is exactly the opposite of what the Lord teaches in the first two parables and elsewhere.

QUESTIONS FOR THE CLASS.

1. To what does the Lord like the kingdom of God?
2. What is the seed? Luke 8:11.
3. Who cast it on the earth? Where is it cast? (Matt. 13:37).
4. What then happens on the earth?
5. Does the Sower interfere during this time?
6. What stages of development are mentioned?
7. When is the growth complete?
8. Does the Sower then step in again?
9. What does He do?
10. What is the harvest? Matt. 13:29.
11. Read Rev. 14:14-16.
12. What will be done with the ripened grain? Matt. 13:30, 43.
13. What other comparison did Jesus use?
14. Why did He choose the mustard-seed to illustrate the beginning of the Kingdom?
15. What is the issue of this small beginning? (Where was such a comparison used before? Dan. 4:11, 12).
16. Were these all the parables Jesus spoke?
17. Why did He use parables? (v. 33).
18. What other reason is given in vs. 11-12? [59]

Source: Second Lord's Day Lesson of February. Lesson 7. February 12, 1928. Jesus Pictures the Kingdom of