Last November, we studied the seven letters of Jesus in the book Revelation. We looked at the letters from three aspects:

• Contemporary
• Composite
• Chronological

As a recap, the churches Jesus wrote to were:

1. Ephesus
2. Smyrna
3. Pergamum
4. Thyatira
5. Sardis
6. Philadelphia
7. Laodicea

These churches represented the following periods in church history:

1. “The Light of Asia,” the period just after Pentecost.
2. The Persecuted Church
3. The Pagan Church
4. The Church of Romanism
5. The Protestant Church
6. The Revived Church
7. The Apostate Church

The Seven Parables of Matthew 13: A Summary

When you carefully read the seven parables of Jesus found in Matthew 13, you are struck by the parallels between those parables and the seven letters.

The seven parables and their audiences are as follows:

1. The Sower – publicly given
2. The Wheat and the Tares – publicly given
3. The Mustard Seed – publicly given
4. The Leaven – publicly given
5. The Hidden Treasure – privately given to the disciples
6. The Pearl of Great Price – privately given to the disciples
7. The Dragnet – privately given to the disciples

Over and over again in the Bible we are presented with the number 7. Even the division between the publicly spoken parables and the private ones are a sum of 7. All of this is evidence of the skillful and deliberate design of the Creator.

Some commentaries have pointed out that the first parable–that of the sower–serves as an introduction to the remaining six. Of the remaining six, they can then each be paired up: the second and the seventh, the third and the fourth, and the fifth and the sixth. Each of these pairs speak the same truth but each in its own way. This, too, is evidence of deliberate and supernatural design of the scripture.

Why Parables?

Jesus’ disciples asked Him privately why He used parables to teach the people. Jesus told them,

“To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.” –Matthew 13:11-13.

In other words, those who were rejecting Jesus as the Messiah, would be in capable of understanding the meaning of His words. This fulfilled exactly what Isaiah had prophesied in Isaiah 6:9-10!

Jesus continues:

“But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.” –Matthew 13:16-17.

This is why Jesus spoke in parables.

Next time

In the next post, we will study the first parable, that of The Sower and its relation to the first church in Revelation: Ephesus.

May He Increase!