While Jesus lived here on the earth, He told stories to the people to illustrate what the Kingdom was like. The bible calls these parables. A parable is a simple story used to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson. These parables paint visual pictures of what the Kingdom of God (or Heaven) is like. Parables, I believe, are meant to make people think. If the person is spiritually hungry, he or she will pursue God to find out the meaning, just as the disciples did when they were alone with Jesus. They would ask Him what the parables meant and He would speak plainly to them what the meaning was. He would give them the spiritual meaning.

Take for instance the parable of the sower in Matthew 13:18, when Jesus taught about four types of soils that a farmer may see in his farming endeavors. This was a farming community and they would have understood the story He was telling them how the type of soil will determine how good your crop is. 

Jesus likened the four types of soil that a farmer sees, to the condition of men’s hearts when the word of God is being taught. The condition of the heart of a man determines the results of the teaching in that person’s life, just as the type of soil determines what kind of crop a farmer gets. The Book of Matthew is full of these parables as Jesus described the Kingdom to the people. He painted pictures so they could understand.

Matthew 13:3-9 “Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: “Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

He explains it to the disciples in Matthew 13:18-23

“Therefore hear the parable of the sower: When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside. But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.” (See Mark 4;1-9 and Luke 8:4-8 also)

Jesus said He spoke in parables to those who are “on the outside.” Parables would puzzle the casual listener, but a true seeker of God would not be content until they understood the story and would search it out. It is one way to “weed out” a casual listener.

Along this same line of thinking, in another place Jesus said the kingdom of Heaven is like a seed….what do you do with a seed? Seeds are meant to be planted, to get a harvest, a crop, to multiply what you have. Planting a seed gets you more seeds. So how does one “plant” the Kingdom of God if it is like a seed?

When the seed of God’s word is “planted” in a man’s heart (or soil), it will grow and become more than it was. It produces “fruit”. Jesus taught about a mustard seed and compared the Kingdom to the tiny seed.

Matthew 13:31-32 “Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.” One can also find this same parable recorded in Mark 4:30–32 and Luke 13:18, 19.

So the Kingdom is like the smallest seed, but when it is planted and grows, it becomes the largest of the garden plants, so that the birds come and perch in its branches. As the story indicates, the growth of the kingdom of God in a person’s life will attract and give benefits to others.

To briefly sum up, just as good soil produces good crops, in the same way, the word of God grows and produces good fruit in hearts that are “good soil,” hearts that are receptive to His truth and that desire His truth. We hear His words, understand them, embrace them, and then watch the teaching produce a harvest of good things in our lives. We are not “hearers only,” but are also doers of what He tells us to do.

We will look at more examples of what the Kingdom of Heaven is like in the next chapter.