CHAPTER 4

(A.D. 31)

THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER

¹And He began again to teach by the seaside: and there was gathered unto Him a great multitude, so that He entered into a ship, and sat in the sea (sat in the ship on the Sea of Galilee); and the whole multitude was by the sea on the land.

²And He taught them many things by Parables, and said unto them in His Doctrine (had He stayed upon the shore the diseased could have touched Him and been healed; but His business as a Servant was to deal with sin rather than with its effects),

³Hearken (be listening); Behold, there went out a sower to sow (this Parable is given in Mat., Chpt. 13, and repeated in Lk., Chpt. 8, but worded somewhat different; these were illustrations taken from everyday life and living, which people understood. But yet, they seldom understood His Parables):

⁴And it came to pass, as He sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up (the seed sowed is the Gospel; the fowls of the air represent Satan and his demon powers).

⁵And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth:

⁶But when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away (many start out for Christ, but dont last long; all of this completely refutes the unscriptural doctrine of unconditional eternal security).

⁷And some (seed) fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it (cares of this life, etc.), and it yielded no fruit.

⁸And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred (an hundredfold, etc.).

⁹And He said unto them, He who has ears to hear, let him hear (those who would properly hear, would attend to these Words of Christ, pondering them, until somehow the Truth was eventually revealed; the Gospel is designed this way purposely by the Holy Spirit, in order to ferret out the insincere).

THE PURPOSE OF PARABLES

¹⁰And when He was alone, they who were about Him with the Twelve (possibly as many as forty or fifty) asked of Him the Parable (what it meant).

¹¹And He said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the Kingdom of God (those who truly want to know): but unto them who are without (who have no desire to know), all these things are done in Parables (Parables were used to reject the merely curious, and to pull in the sincerely desirous):

¹²That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them (Judicial blindness and deafness justly befall those who do not wish to see and hear; the emphasis is on the person and not on God. He desires that all see and hear).

¹³And He said unto them, Know ye not this Parable? (Contains a gentle reproach. The question as given by the Lord, indicates that they should have known.) and how then will you know all Parables? (The Parable of the Sower lays down the principle of all Parables concerning the understanding thereof.)

PARABLE OF THE SOWER

¹⁴The sower sows the Word (the Word of God. This seed must be sowed to the entirety of the world [Mk. 16:15]).

¹⁵And these (the ones who merely hear but do not receive) are they by the way side, where the Word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan comes immediately, and takes away the Word that was sown in their hearts (the structure of the sentence is these individuals do not have to allow Satan to take away the Word).

¹⁶And these (those who hear and receive, but have no durability) are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the Word, immediately receive it with gladness (millions fall into this category);

¹⁷And have no root in themselves (once again, it is the fault of the individual), and so endure but for a time (meaning that they truly were Born-Again): afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the Words sake (as surely it will), immediately they are offended (cant stand the opposition, because they have no root, meaning that the ground was not sufficiently prepared).

¹⁸And these (make a great start, and even endure for a while, but they allow the world to stop them) are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the Word,

¹⁹And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the Word, and it becomes unfruitful (means that they did bear fruit for a while, but allowed the things of the world to choke it off, until they became totally unfruitful, and lost their way; the Parable of the sower completely refutes the unscriptural doctrine of unconditional eternal security, as should be obvious here).

²⁰And these (those who hear, receive, bring forth fruit, and continue to bring forth fruit forever; they allow nothing to stop them) are they which are sown on good ground (the individual determines whether the ground is good or not); such as hear the Word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred.

THE GOSPEL

²¹And He said unto them, Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed? and not to be set on a candlestick? (The Gospel is not to be merely enjoyed privately, but rather imparted as a lamp imparts its light.)

²²For there is nothing hid, which shall not be manifested; neither was any thing kept secret, but that it should come abroad (the Gospel is not meant to be hid, or kept secret, but is to be spread abroad, throughout the world).

²³If any man have ears to hear, let him hear (the Lord will make the Gospel known to all Nations, and all will be held responsible who hear it).

²⁴And He said unto them, Take heed what you hear (there is no excuse for Believers not hearing correctly): with what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you who hear shall more be given (in proportion to the diligence given to Bible Study, so will spiritual intelligence be measured to the student).

²⁵For he who has, to him shall be given: and he who has not, from him shall be taken even that which he has (spiritual gifts, if exercised, will be developed; if not, they will be lost).

THE PARABLE OF THE SEED

²⁶And He said, So is the Kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground (responsibility of Believers to spread the Gospel);

²⁷And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knows not how (the Word if properly sown, will without fail, have its proper effect).

²⁸For the earth brings forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear (this is the Law of the Gospel in sowing and reaping).

²⁹But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest is come (has reference to the end of the age, when the Church will be called to account).

THE PARABLE OF THE MUSTARD SEED

³⁰And He said, Whereunto shall we liken the Kingdom of God? or with what comparison shall we compare it? (Is meant to proclaim the manner in which Satan will endeavor to corrupt the Word of God.)

³¹It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds that be in the earth (the Church began very small):

³²But when it is sown, it grows up, and becomes greater than all herbs, and shoots out great branches (Christianity is presently the largest religion on Earth, claiming nearly two billion adherents, in one form or the other); so that the fowls of the air may lodge under the shadow of it (refers to most of Christianity being corrupted by Satanic Powers as explained in Mat. 13:19 and Lk. 8:12).

³³And with many such Parables spoke He the Word unto them, as they were able to hear it(able to understand).

³⁴But without a Parable spoke He not unto them: and when they were alone, He expounded all things to His Disciples (gave them extended instruction).

JESUS STILLS THE STORM

³⁵And the same day, when the evening was come (refers to the same day that He had been teaching the people through Parables), He said unto them (the Twelve), Let us pass over unto the other side (presents itself as a microcosm of this present life; the storms come, and it is only with Christ, that we can make it to the other shore).

³⁶And when they had sent away the multitude, they took Him even as He was in the ship (meaning that He was very tired, even to the point of physical exhaustion; as a man, He grew tired, just as we do). And there were also with Him other little ships (referred to those who wanted to be near Him, and understandably so!).

³⁷And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full (represents in the spiritual sense, the storms of life, which come to every person).

³⁸And He was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake Him, and say unto Him, Master, carest Thou not that we perish? (The Lord had said, let us pass over unto the other side. This means that despite the storm, or anything else for that matter, they would reach the other shore. The people of God are in the same boat with Christ, and we cannot perish because He cannot perish. But we must expect storms of opposition for they are sure to come [Ps. 93].)

³⁹And He arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still (the Greek intimates, Silence! Hush!). And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm (instantly).

⁴⁰And He said unto them, Why are you so fearful? (This type of fear, shows improper love [I Jn. 4:18].)How is it that ye have no faith? (The Disciples had accepted His Messiahship, but had a most inadequate view of what that office carried with it.)

⁴¹And they feared exceedingly (means that their fear of Him, was greater even then their fear had been of the storm), and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him? (The Disciples were right! The wind and sea did obey Him, and so does everything else. So why should we fear?)