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daily devotional
Evening ...
Song of Solomon 1:16
Behold, Thou art fair, my Beloved.
From every point our Well-beloved is most fair. Our various experiences are
meant by our heavenly Father to furnish fresh standpoints from which we may
view the loveliness of Jesus; how amiable are our trials when they carry us
aloft where we may gain clearer views of Jesus than ordinary life could afford
us! We have seen Him from the top of Amana, from the top of Shenir and Hermon,
and He has shone upon us as the sun in his strength; but we have seen Him also
"from the lions' dens, from the mountains of the leopards," and He has lost
none of His loveliness. From the languishing of a sick bed, from the borders of
the grave, have we turned our eyes to our soul's spouse, and He has never been
otherwise than "all fair." Many of His saints have looked upon Him from the
gloom of dungeons, and from the red flames of the stake, yet have they never
uttered an ill word of Him, but have died extolling His surpassing charms. Oh,
noble and pleasant employment to be for ever gazing at our sweet Lord Jesus! Is
it not unspeakably delightful to view the Saviour in all His offices, and to
perceive Him matchless in each?-to shift the kaleidoscope, as it were, and to
find fresh combinations of peerless graces? In the manger and in eternity, on
the cross and on His throne, in the garden and in His kingdom, among thieves or
in the midst of cherubim, He is everywhere "altogether lovely." Examine
carefully every little act of His life, and every trait of His character, and
He is as lovely in the minute as in the majestic. Judge Him as you will, you
cannot censure; weigh Him as you please, and He will not be found wanting.
Eternity shall not discover the shadow of a spot in our Beloved, but rather, as
ages revolve, His hidden glories shall shine forth with yet more inconceivable
splendour, and His unutterable loveliness shall more and more ravish all
celestial minds.
Matthew 13:31
(31) Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom
of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in
his field:
Mark 4:31
(31) It 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:
Luke 13:19
(19) It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and
cast into his garden; and it grew, and waxed a great tree; and the fowls of the
air lodged in the branches of it.
The mustard seed stands for the progress of the church from small
beginnings. Because of its minuteness, the mustard seed came to symbolize small
beginnings, denoting the smallest weight or measure, a tiny particle. The
parable focuses on this idea of smallness. The mustard seed is something small
that does its part to expand in preparation for the Kingdom of God. The seed
represents an instrument by which spiritual growth can be advanced, just as a
plant grows and reproduces itself through a seed.
In this parable, the small seed is the church, which appeared as
the firstfruits of the Word. Just as in the Parable of the Sower, the one who
sows the mustard seed is the Son of Man, Jesus Christ, and the field is the
world. Jesus Himself had an insignificant entrance into the world by human
standards, and the church He founded is likewise a "little flock" (Luke
12:31-32), small and designed by God not to become a physically powerful
organization that would make a spectacle of itself.
In Matthew 7:13-14, Christ says the way that leads to eternal
life is difficult and narrow, and few find it. He reiterates in Matthew 20:16
that few are chosen. In Luke 10:2, when sending the seventy out, He says the
laborers are few. Paul argues in I Corinthians 1:26-29 that God calls the weak
and the base of the world to put to shame the mighty and the noble. Jesus is
referring to those few who, upon their calling by God, voluntarily submit to
God's dominion, the Kingdom of God.
Martin G. Collins
From Parables of Matthew 13 (Part Four): The Parable of the
Mustard Seed
.
