The Kingdom of God is a mysterious thing that is not necessarily what we think. God is the ruler of all. His Kingdom is Universal. This means that everything in creation—earth, heaven, hell, angels, demons, humans, and even the devil—is under His rule. There is a second part to His Kingdom called the Mediated Kingdom. This manifestation of His Kingdom is the part that is seen through those who believe. Everyone and everything is born into God’s Universal Kingdom; those who believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior are a part of the Mediated Kingdom. We all now live in the Age of the Church or more accurately the Age of the Mysterious Kingdom of God.

Jesus explained the Kingdom of God in 7 parables found in Matthew 13. He needed to establish the truth of His coming Kingdom. The people of Israel believed that the Kingdom of God would come in the form of judgment and violence. They believed the Messiah would come charging in on a warhorse, kill all the infidels (especially the Romans), and reestablish the Nation of Israel. God had other plans—bigger and better plans. His Kingdom would come in an unexpected and mysterious manner that welcomed all.

Jesus preached in parables so He could transform ambiguous concepts into understandable pictures. Parables make Truth concrete, portable, interesting, and personally discoverable. He used things with which the people were familiar—like farming—to explain things that were not familiar—His Kingdom. The first parable is probably one of the most familiar. It is the parable of the 4 Soils. Jesus was teaching on a boat off the shore of Capernaum. If you were to look at a map of Israel, you could see that the wheat fields were barely a few hundred yards from the shore. Jesus would have been able to see the farmers working in the fields that morning. He looked out at them and began to preach, “A Farmer went out to his field to sow seeds…â€

The parable of the soils is one of two that have an explanation the last five in Matthew 13 do not have explanations). Jesus made it clear that when He was talking about a farmer, seed, and soil, what He really meant was His messengers, His Word, and our hearts. He spoke of four kinds of soil: hard ground, shallow soil, thorny soil, and good soil.

The hard ground was the pathways that crisscrossed the fields. These pathways were trodden on by people and animals daily. It was hard as rock and was not used for planting. This soil represents the hearts of people who have grown bitter over time and are unwilling to receive the Word of God. These hearts who us that not everyone will enter the Kingdom of God. It is a difficult truth to accept, for God is a loving and just God. He gives everyone a chance. No one dies without having been given the choice, and God will not punish someone who has done no wrong. In His justice, God has provided a way for the hard hearts to become soft—worship. Music is filled with emotions that touch and soften our hearts. When our hearts become soft, we are ready to receive.

The shallow soil and thorny soil represent hearts that receive the Word but do not allow it to thrive. Israel was built on a foundation of limestone. If a farmer, while plowing, hit a slab of limestone, they would pile good soil on top of it until there was enough good soil to sustain the seed. No farmer worth his salt would leave rocks in his soil. The metaphor is thus: thousands of people will come to Jesus and receive His Word, but something or other—time, difficulty, greed—will cause the seed to have shallow roots or to be choked out. In the end, these kinds of hearts produce no fruit, and fruitfulness is one of the most important things in the Kingdom.

The last heart is a representation of three different kinds of hearts. They are all good hearts. They are soft and open and ready to receive the Word. These hearts catch the seed, it plants deep, and it becomes fruitful. One heart produces 30 times the original amount; one, 60; and one, 100. Israeli farmers never see a crop better than 10 fold; Jesus saw far more. This is the first mystery of the Kingdom: it is found within the soft hearts of those who believe and is carried to the world in and through us.