Isaiah 53: The Suffering Servant (Part 2)

The audio file below covers verses 4-12 of Isaiah 53 and completes the study of this chapter. Click here to listen to or download the message covering Isa. 53:1-3.

LISTEN: Isaiah 53 – The Suffering Servant – Part 2 (mp3)

READ: Isaiah 53 – The Suffering Servant (pdf)

The Parable of the Sower

Following is chapter 3 of The Kingdom According to Jesus. You may order the entire study from a number of the nation’s leading booksellers.

Matt. 13:1-9, 18-23 (HCSB)

1 On that day Jesus went out of the house and was sitting by the sea.
2 Such large crowds gathered around Him that He got into a boat and sat down, while the whole crowd stood on the shore.
3 Then He told them many things in parables, saying: “Consider the sower who went out to sow.
4 As he was sowing, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and ate them up.
5 Others fell on rocky ground, where there wasn’t much soil, and they sprang up quickly since the soil wasn’t deep.
6 But when the sun came up they were scorched, and since they had no root, they withered.
7 Others fell among thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them.
8 Still others fell on good ground, and produced a crop: some 100, some 60, and some 30 times [what was sown].
9 Anyone who has ears should listen!”

18 “You, then, listen to the parable of the sower:
19 When anyone hears the word about the kingdom and doesn’t understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the one sown along the path.
20 And the one sown on rocky ground—this is one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy.
21 Yet he has no root in himself, but is short-lived. When pressure or persecution comes because of the word, immediately he stumbles.
22 Now the one sown among the thorns—this is one who hears the word, but the worries of this age and the seduction of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
23 But the one sown on the good ground—this is one who hears and understands the word, who does bear fruit and yields: some 100, some 60, some 30 times [what was sown].”

(This parable also is found in Mark 4:1-9, 13-20 and in Luke 8:4-8, 11-15.)

The context

Jesus probably is staying with Peter at his home in Capernaum. He has just tussled with the scribes and Pharisees who accused him of eating “unlawfully” and of healing on the Sabbath. He has foiled a plot by the Pharisees to kill Him. He has cast a demon out of a man and then answered the Pharisees’ accusation that He is casting out demons by Satan’s power. He has rebuked the Pharisees for demanding a sign that He is the Christ. And he has denied his own family’s request to see Him by declaring that His family consists of all who believe in Him. Now, in chapter 13, the Scripture says in verse one, “On that day Jesus went out of the house and was sitting by the sea [of Galilee].”

It is significant that in chapter 12 Jesus shows clear evidence He is the Messiah and that His kingdom has invaded Satan’s kingdom:

  • He declares Himself greater than the Temple and is indeed “Lord of the Sabbath.”
  • He casts out demons and heals the sick.
  • He foretells His death, burial and resurrection as the one sure sign He is the Son of God.
  • He rebukes the Jews of His generation for their wickedness and foretells their judgment (which falls in 70 A.D.).
  • And He declares that His true family is not earthly but heavenly, not of flesh and blood but of spirit.

Matt. 12:28 is crucial in setting the stage for Jesus’ parables in chapter 13: “If I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you.” Jesus declares that the long-awaited kingdom of heaven has come – but not in the way the Jewish leaders were expecting. Rather than as a political and military machine, the kingdom has come quietly and with great spiritual power, invading Satan’s kingdom and binding him (the “strong man” of Matt. 12:29) so that He may plunder the evil one’s kingdom.

The scribes and Pharisees will have none of this teaching and reject the King and His kingdom. So in chapter 13, as Jesus leaves Peter’s house and sits beside the sea, multitudes gather around Him, having witnessed His miracles and having heard His declaration that the kingdom of heaven has come. So Jesus gets into a boat – perhaps Peter’s boat or a boat made available for Jesus’ use whenever He needed it – and begins a series of eight parables on the kingdom of heaven. In this first parable – the parable of the sower – it is possible that farmers on the hillsides along the sea were in their fields sowing seed, with the ever-present birds hovering in the air above them.

Central theme

The central theme of this parable is that the kingdom of heaven has come among men and yet men can reject it. As George Eldon Ladd writes, “The mystery of the Kingdom is this: The Kingdom of God is here but not with irresistible power. The Kingdom of God has come, but it is not like a stone grinding an image to powder. It is not now destroying wickedness. On the contrary, it is like a man sowing seed. It does not force itself upon men…. This was a staggering thing to one who knew only the Old Testament…. One day God will indeed manifest His mighty power to purge the earth of wickedness, sin and evil; but not now. God’s Kingdom is working among men, but God will not compel them to bow before it. They must receive it; the response must come from a willing heart and a submissive will” (The Gospel of the Kingdom, pp. 56-57).

Central character

Christ no doubt is the sower, but in a sense every believer who shares the gospel is a sower as well. In Jesus’ day, farmers walked through their fields scattering seed by hand broadly across their property, knowing that a high percentage of the seed would not bear fruit. Normally, another member of the family would follow the sower closely and plow the seed under. But many of the seeds were eaten by birds as they fell on footpaths; others landed in shallow soil with a stratum of rock beneath; and others fell at the fringes of the property among thorn bushes that the farmers used to build small cooking fires. Still, the seed is broadcast widely, and some seed finds the good soil, thus raising up a crop.

Details

Jesus interprets the parable for His disciples:

  • The seed is the word of God (Luke 8:11) – the good news that the kingdom has come in the Person of Jesus the Messiah and that all may enter into the kingdom by faith in Him, the Word (Logos, John 1:1).
  • The birds represent Satan, who “takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved” (Luke 8:12).
  • The seed along the path stands for the impact of the word on hearers who do not understand. Their hearts are hardened like the footpaths winding through ancient wheat fields. They cannot believe because they will not believe, much like the Jewish leaders Jesus described in Matt. 13:12-15.
  • The seed on the rocky ground represents the impact of the word on shallow, uncommitted hearers. They may have an emotional response to the gospel but walk away when the reality of kingdom living – which may include pressure or persecution – sets in. Jesus’ followers who left him in John 6:66 are examples of those who loved Jesus’ miracles but balked at the call to discipleship.
  • The seed among the thorns illustrates the impact of the word on worldly hearers. Though understanding the gospel of the kingdom, they prefer the “worries, riches, and pleasures of life” (Luke 8:14). The rich young ruler who encountered Jesus falls into this category of hearers (Luke 18:18-23).
  • The seed in the good ground represents the impact of the word on those who, “having heard the word with an honest and good heart, hold on to it and by enduring, bear fruit” (Luke 8:15) – “some 100, some 60, some 30 times [what was sown]” (Matt. 13:23).

Spiritual application

In Jesus’ day, farmers sowed widely across their fields, knowing that perhaps one in three seeds would grow to maturity. As believers, we are to sow the gospel of the kingdom widely and indiscriminately, trusting God to grant the harvest.

Regarding the kingdom, Jesus’ parable of the sower is a clear message that His kingdom would not at this time come in power and great glory; instead, it would reside in the hearts of willing believers and be resisted by many. This is not what the Jews were expecting, and many rejected Jesus and His call to the kingdom because He is not the political and military leader they are seeking. At the same time, Satan, whose kingdom Jesus has invaded, will hover watchfully and snatch the gospel away from those whose hearts are hardened against it, lest, person by person, he lose power as “the god of this age” (2 Cor. 4:4).

Why Jesus used parables to describe the kingdom

Following is chapter 2 of The Kingdom According to Jesus. You may order the entire study from a number of the nation’s leading booksellers.

Matt. 13:10-17, 34-35 (HCSB)

10 Then the disciples came up and asked Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?”
11 He answered them, “Because the secrets of the kingdom of heaven have been given for you to know, but it has not been given to them.
12 For whoever has, [more] will be given to him, and he will have more than enough. But whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.
13 For this reason I speak to them in parables, because looking they do not see, and hearing they do not listen or understand.
14 Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled in them, which says: You will listen and listen, yet never understand; and you will look and look, yet never perceive.
15 For this people’s heart has grown callous; their ears are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes; otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn back— and I would cure them.
16 But your eyes are blessed because they do see, and your ears because they do hear!
17 For  I assure you: Many prophets and righteous people longed to see the things you see yet didn’t see them; to hear the things you hear yet didn’t hear them.”

34 Jesus told the crowds all these things in parables, and He would not speak anything to them without a parable,
35 so that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled: I will open My mouth in parables; I will declare things kept secret from the foundation of the world.

What is a parable?

A parable is a story drawn from everyday experience to illustrate a deeper truth – in Scripture, a spiritual truth.  The teaching of parables goes back to antiquity. The first parable recorded in the Bible is that of the trees choosing for themselves a king (Judges 9:7-15). There are numerous parables in both the Old and New Testaments, but the most common parables are those taught by Jesus. While Jesus was not the first to use parables, He endowed them with unparalleled originality and spiritual depth. In fact, more than one-third of all His recorded sayings are parables.

Two Greek words are translated “parable” in the New Testament: parabole (48 times), meaning “to represent or stand for something,” and paroimia (four times in John), meaning “an adage, dark saying, proverb, a presentation deviating from the usual means of speaking.” As Herbert Lockyer writes in All the Parables of the Bible, “Parables prove that the external is the mirror in which we may behold the internal and the spiritual.” Parables also reward the faithful learner. As Matthew Henry writes in his unabridged commentary, “A parable is a shell that keeps good fruit for the diligent, but keeps it from the slothful.”

Parables and the mystery of the kingdom

Many of Jesus’ parables describe “the mystery/secret of the kingdom of God” (Mark 4:11). The term “mystery” means something God has held in secret throughout the ages but has finally disclosed in a new revelation of His redemptive work. In this case, the mystery of the kingdom is that God’s kingdom has come in an unexpected way – a way not fully revealed in the Old Testament.

With the coming of Jesus the Messiah as the Lamb of God, or the Suffering Servant, He invades Satan’s kingdom and reigns in the hearts of men. Yes, the day will come when God’s kingdom overcomes human authority, when the Lion of Judah appears in power and great glory to sit on the throne of David and rule the earth, but first He must come humbly and lay down His life as a ransom for lost sinners, destroying the enemies of God: sin, Satan and death. Jesus uses parables to reveal these previously hidden truths about the kingdom.

George Eldon Ladd puts it this way in The Gospel of the Kingdom: “But the mystery, the new revelation, is that this very Kingdom of God has now come to work among men but in an utterly unexpected way. It is not now destroying human rule; it is not now abolishing sin from the earth; it is not now bringing the baptism of fire that John had announced. It has come quietly, unobtrusively, secretly. It can work among men and never be recognized by the crowds. In the spiritual realm, the Kingdom now offers to men the blessings of God’s rule, delivering them from the power of Satan and sin. The Kingdom of God is an offer, a gift which may be accepted or rejected. The Kingdom is now here with persuasion rather than with power.” (p. 55).

Why Jesus used parables

In Matthew 13, after Jesus tells the parable of the sower, His disciples ask Him why He is now employing this form of teaching. His answer is revealing:

  • Because the mysteries/secrets of the kingdom have been given to Jesus’ disciples but not to others (v. 11). Jesus would spend three full years with the apostles, teaching them about the necessity of His death, burial and resurrection. Others would be taught the mystery in parables and, if they inclined their hearts toward God, would understand.
  • Those who received the gospel of the kingdom would benefit from the truths revealed in Jesus’ parables, while those who insisted on a political and military Messiah would no longer be entrusted with the Scriptures – a reference to the Jewish religious leaders (v. 12).
  • Those who already are rejecting Jesus as Messiah are so hard of heart they cannot understand these simple parables. Just as the Jews in Isaiah’s days had rejected God – leading to judgment – so the unbelieving Jews of Jesus’ day would face judgment in the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D., as well as judgment after the kingdom comes in power (vv. 13-15). As Matthew Henry has written, “A parable, like the pillar of cloud and fire, turns a dark side towards Egyptians, which confounds them, but a light side towards the Israelites, which comforts them, and so answers a double intention.”
  • Jesus’ parables of the kingdom reveal spiritual truths that the prophets of old could only see in shadow form; the apostles should rejoice that they are witnessing the coming of the kingdom in mystery (vv. 16-17).
  • Jesus’ parables fulfill prophecy. The psalmist wrote that Messiah would “declare wise sayings; I will speak mysteries from the past” (Ps. 78:2), and that’s exactly what Jesus did (v. 35). See also Deut. 29:29; Rom. 16:25; 1 Cor. 2:7; Eph. 3:9; and Col. 1:26.

How we should study Jesus’ parables of the kingdom

We will study Jesus’ parables of the kingdom by considering:

  1. Context. We will ask: To whom is Jesus speaking? When? Where? Why? Who else is present? How does this parable compare with other parables and teachings of Jesus, and with other Scriptures?
  2. Theme. We will locate the central theme. Parables normally focus on a single key point. Jesus’ parables of the kingdom reveal key aspects of His reign.
  3. Character(s). We will identify the central character or characters and see how he, she, it or they relate to the central theme. We’ll also ask what role the other characters play in the parable.
  4. Details. We will look at the details of each parable, being careful not to impose unintended meanings.
  5. Personal application. We will explore what understanding, attitude or action Jesus is demanding of His listeners – and of us.

The design of speaking in parables

According to Barnes’ Notes on the New Testament, Jesus has the following four things in mind as He tells each parable:

1.    To convey truth in a more interesting manner to the mind; adding to the truth conveyed the beauty of a lovely image or narrative.

2.    To teach spiritual truth so as to arrest the attention of ignorant people, making an appeal to them through the senses.

3.    To convey some offensive truth, some pointed personal rebuke, in such a way as to bring it home to the conscience. Of this kind was the parable which Nathan delivered to David (2 Sam. 12:1-7) and many of our Savior’s parables addressed to the Jews.

4.    To conceal from one part of his audience truths which he intended others should understand. Thus Christ often, by this means, delivered truths to his disciples in the presence of the Jews, which he well knew the Jews would not understand; truths pertaining to them particularly, and which he was under no obligations to explain to the Jews (see Matt. 13:13-16; Mark 4:33).

Why I feel like Jed Clampett

My daughter Aubrey graduates this week from Oklahoma City University with a degree in dance performance and is making final preparations to join a major cruise-ship line. I am so proud of her … but also admittedly a little anxious as I rent a truck and bring home four years of accumulated belongings from her OCU dorm room. Hence my ode to college dads everywhere, with a tip of the hat to Jed Clampett and my apologies to Flatt & Scruggs.

Come and listen to my story ’bout a dancing fool

She just graduated from a dancing school

Prima ballerina and a tapper to boot

But dad doesn’t know what to do with all her loot (stuff, that is … dorm-room diaspora)

Now the first thing you know old dad is deep in debt

He’s praying for the Rapture but it ain’t here yet

He’ll likely have to work till at least he’s 93

But by then there’ll be nothing for security (social, that is … big gummint in action)

Well we thank you mighty kindly now for dropping in

Our daughter’s off a-cruising in the Caribbean

We’re awfully proud of her as we’re rockin’ in our chairs

She’s kicking but we’re resting on our derrieres (y’all come back now, hear?)

What is the kingdom of heaven?

Following is chapter 1 of The Kingdom According to Jesus. You may order the entire study from a number of the nation’s leading booksellers.

The terms “kingdom of God,” “kingdom of heaven,” and “kingdom” (with reference to the kingdom of God/heaven) appear nearly 150 times in scripture. None of these references gives a simple, straightforward definition of the kingdom, and many passages appear to be contradictory. Yet the kingdom is the primary focus of Jesus’ teaching. Many of His parables describe the kingdom. The apostles preach the “gospel of the kingdom.” And end-times prophecy points us toward the day when God’s kingdom will come in its fullness.

So, what is the kingdom of heaven? Are the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God the same thing? Is the kingdom here already, or are we to wait for it? What does it look like? Who’s in the kingdom and who’s not? And what is required to enter the kingdom? We will explore these and other questions in this book, mostly through the lens of Jesus’ parables in Matthew on the kingdom of heaven. To begin, we need to understand what the Bible says the kingdom of heaven is – and is not.

What the kingdom of heaven is not

There are many incorrect views about the kingdom that have emerged over the years – among them, that the kingdom of heaven is:

  • An inward power; a purely subjective realm of God’s power and influence in our lives.
  • An apocalyptic realm – altogether future and supernatural – that God will install at the end of human history; it is by no means present or spiritual.
  • The church – either the ever-expanding church as the world is Christianized, ushering in the kingdom, or the true church hidden within professing Christianity.
  • The universe – all of God’s creation over which He is sovereign.
  • Heaven – in contrast to earth.

As we’ll see, none of these views holds up under a careful study of Scripture.

So … what is the kingdom of heaven?

The kingdom of heaven simply is God’s reign – His authority to rule. The following truths help us understand the kingdom in more practical terms:

  • The kingdom is God’s conquest, through Jesus Christ, of His enemies: sin, Satan, and death.
  • The kingdom comes in stages. It was foretold by Jewish prophets as an everlasting, mighty and righteous reign involving the nation of Israel and its coming King – the Messiah. It came humbly through the virgin birth of the Son of God and exists today as a “mystery” in the hearts of all believers. In the Second Coming, the kingdom will at last appear in power and glory. And after Christ’s millennial reign on earth, He will deliver the kingdom to the Father, having finally put away sin (it no longer is a reality to be dealt with), Satan (he will be cast into hell to be tormented night and day forever), and death (there is no longer physical or spiritual death).
  • The Bible describes this three-fold fact: 1) Some passages refer to the kingdom as God’s reign, rule, or authority; 2) some passages refer to the kingdom as the realm into which we may now enter to experience the blessings of His reign; and 3) some passages refer to the kingdom as a future realm that will come only with the return of Jesus. All three are true.
  • As all kingdoms must have a king, Jesus is King of the kingdom of heaven. As King of kings and Lord of lords, Jesus is the eternal Son of God to whom, one day, “every knee should bow … and every tongue should confess …” (Phil. 2:10-11).
  • People enter the kingdom and become its citizens by faith in Jesus Christ.

The paradox of the kingdom

When we turn to the Scriptures, we find a perplexing diversity of statements about the kingdom, many of them focusing on the now-vs.-future aspects of the kingdom of heaven:

  • The kingdom is a present spiritual reality (Rom. 14:17); at the same time, it is a future inheritance that God will give His people when Christ returns in glory (Matt. 25:34).
  • The kingdom is a realm into which Christians have already entered (Col. 1:13); then again, it is a future realm we will enter when Christ returns (Matt. 8:11; 2 Peter 1:11).
  • The kingdom will be ushered in with great glory (Matt. 13:41-43, 24:30); yet, its coming is without signs (Luke 17:20-21).
  • The kingdom is present and at work in the world (Luke 13:18-21); still, Jesus tells Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36).
  • The kingdom is a present reality (Matt. 12:28) and a future blessing (1 Cor. 15:50-57).
  • The kingdom is an inner spiritual redemptive blessing (Rom. 14:17) that can only be experienced through the new birth (John 3:3); yet, it will involve world government (Rev. 11:15).
  • People enter the kingdom now (Matt. 21:31) and in the future (Matt. 8:11).
  • The kingdom is a gift God will give the redeemed in the future (Luke 22:29-30) and yet it must be received in the present (Mark 10:15).

How do we reconcile these seemingly contradictory teachings? Simply by setting aside our modern notion of a kingdom as a physical boundary over which a king rules. “The primary meaning of both the Hebrew word malkuth in the Old Testament and of the Greek word basileia in the New Testament is the rank, authority and sovereignty exercised by a king. A basileia may indeed be a realm over which a sovereign exercises authority; and it may be the people who belong to that realm and over whom authority is exercised; but these are secondary and derived meanings. First of all, a kingdom is the authority to rule, the sovereignty of the king.” (The Gospel of the Kingdom: Scriptural Studies in the Kingdom of God by George Eldon Ladd, p. 19).

Certainly God’s kingdom has a realm – the believer’s heart today, the earth throughout the millennium, and the restored heavens and earth after sin, Satan and death are finally put away – but our understanding of the kingdom will advance more quickly if we remember that the kingdom first and foremost is God’s authority to rule.

The kingdom of heaven vs. the kingdom of God

The terms “kingdom of heaven” and “kingdom of God” are interchangeable. Only Matthew uses the term “kingdom of heaven,” possibly because his gospel is written to Jews who for fear of taking God’s name in vain used the word “heaven” when referring to God. Even more likely, Jews would be familiar with the phrase “kingdom of heaven” or “kingdom of the heavens,” while most Greeks would not. Therefore, Mark, Luke, and even Matthew on occasion (Matt. 19:23-24, for example) prefer the term “kingdom of God” to make the text more understandable to Greek readers.

Some commentators believe there is a distinction between the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God. They say the kingdom of heaven refers to professing Christianity throughout the church age (Pentecost to the Rapture), while the kingdom of God spans across time and eternity. But this view does not hold up since some of Jesus’ parables about the kingdom of heaven in Matthew are recorded in other gospels as relating to the kingdom of God. We should not try to force a separate meaning on the kingdom of heaven just because Matthew preferred that term.

The “world” vs. the “age”

There are two Greek words translated “world” in older translations of Scripture: kosmos and aion. They are not the same, and translating both words as “world” obscures what God’s Word says about His kingdom. 

Kosmos refers to something in proper order or harmony. In its most common usage in Scripture, kosmos is the created universe. In contrast, aion designates a period of time and ought to be translated “age.” Matt. 12:32 is a good example of aion being translated “world” in the King James Version, when it should be translated “age:” “Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him. But whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the one to come” (HCSB).

When kosmos and aion are properly translated, we begin to see that God’s Word tells us about two ages: This Age (from the fall to the Second Coming of Christ), followed by The Age to Come. This Age is dominated by sin (Gal. 1:4), while The Age to Come will be characterized by righteousness. For a graphic depiction of this teaching, see the chart, “The Conflict of the Ages.”

The mystery of the kingdom

Finally, it’s important to understand that many of Jesus’ parables deal with the “mystery” of the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 13:11). The Greek word for mystery, or secret, is mysteria and means what we can know only by divine revelation. This has particular value in helping us understand the kingdom of heaven in this present age. The Jews were looking for a political and military kingdom based on their understanding of the Old Testament; they completely bypassed the prophecies in Isaiah 53 and elsewhere about the Suffering Servant and thereby rejected Jesus as Messiah.

And so the kingdom of heaven is here in the Person of Jesus. But the mystery of the kingdom is that it must first come without fanfare in the Lamb of God who, through His death, burial and resurrection, would take away the sin of the world. The kingdom will come in power and great glory one day when Jesus returns as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah (see Rev. 19:11-16).