Part 2 - the Seven Parables of Matthew 13

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Introduction
In Matthew's gospel, the Lord Jesus is sent to "the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Matt. 15:24). From the beginning, both John the Baptist (Matt. 3:2) and the Lord Himself (Matt. 4:17) preach the nearness of the kingdom. Accordingly, they call upon the people to repent. Their hearts must be morally prepared by repentance if they are to receive the King when He appears. In addition, the Lord presents Himself to the people with many miraculous proofs of His Messiahship. Nevertheless, they refuse both Him and His testimony.
By the time we come to Matt. 12 then, things have come to a head. The Jews have gone so far as to ascribe the Lord's mighty works of power to that of Satan. (Matt. 12:24.) Therefore, when, in their unbelief, they ask Him for still one more sign, He tells them they'll get no sign but that of Jonah the prophet. (Matt. 12:38-40.) As Jonah had been sent to the Gentiles after having spent three days and three nights in the fish's belly, so the rejected Christ would turn to the Gentiles after having spent three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. In the process of time of course, both of these developments have taken place. Three days after He was crucified, the Lord was raised from among the dead; and He has now turned to the Gentiles.
Accordingly then, when the Lord was raised from among the dead, the Jews should have known; but as we know, even that wasn't enough to overcome their unbelief. (See also Luke 16:27-31.) To this day, it is rumored among the Jews that the Lord's disciples came by night and stole His body away and then claimed He had been raised from among the dead (See Matt. 28:11-15.). Today therefore, that is where things stand with that people.
In view of this state of things therefore, chapter 13 of Matthew begins with the Lord's going out of the house, a figure in the Scriptures for the nation of Israel. (As we have already noted, He had come to "the lost sheep of the house of Israel" [See also Zech. 13:6.]). Having left the house, He goes to the sea, a figure in the Scriptures for the restless and unstable nations of the Gentiles. It is from there that He teaches His doctrine and sets forth the seven parables of our chapter.
In them, He speaks of the kingdom of heaven, but in a mysterious form—that is, as a thing hidden and unseen. (See Matt. 13:11.) This expression is intended to convey the idea that, unlike the kingdom the Lord would have set up if the Jews had received Him as their Messiah, it is presently a heavenly one and, therefore, spiritual and unseen. When Christ comes though "with power and great glory" to set up His millennial kingdom, it will be neither mysterious nor hidden, but rather, earthly and, therefore, visible and material. (See Matt. 24:30.) In the meantime then, the kingdom is a thing for faith and not for sight; hence, its "mysterious" character.