Matthew 13:1 says, “On that day Jesus, going out of the house, sat beside the sea.” To most Christian teachers, this verse is insignificant. When I read this verse as a young man, it meant nothing to me. But now I realize that this verse is very meaningful. At the end of chapter twelve, the heavenly King, having been fully rejected by the Jewish leaders, made a break with them. On that day He went out of the house to sit beside the sea. This is very significant. The house signifies the house of Israel (10:6), and the sea signifies the Gentile world (Dan. 7:3, 17; Rev. 17:15). The King’s going out of the house to sit beside the sea signifies that after His break with the Jews, He forsook the house of Israel and turned to the Gentiles. It was after this that, on the seashore, He gave the parables concerning the mysteries of the kingdom. This signifies that the mysteries of the kingdom were revealed in the church. Hence, all the parables in this chapter were spoken to His disciples, not to the Jews.
The first three words of chapter thirteen, “On that day,” join this chapter to chapter twelve, just as the words, “At that time,” connect chapter twelve to chapter eleven. The words, “On that day,” refer to the day that the Lord declared that He had forsaken Israel, the day He cut off Israel and grafted in the Gentile believers. On that day He went out of the house, signifying the house of Israel, to the sea, signifying the Gentile world. This move from the house to the sea corresponded to His declaration. He had declared that He no longer had anything to do with His natural relatives but that He had turned to the believing Gentiles. Now He was walking according to His declaration. Therefore, we see that this verse is very meaningful.
Verse 2 says that great crowds were gathered to Him. But this does not mean that all those in these great crowds became His relatives.
Verse 2 also says, “He stepped into a boat to sit and all the crowd stood on the shore.” The boat, which was in the sea but not of the sea, signifies the church, which is in the world but not of the world. The sea is the Gentile world, and the boat is the church in the Gentile world. It was in the boat, in the church, that the King of the heavenly kingdom, after forsaking the Jews and turning to the Gentiles, revealed the mysteries of the kingdom in parables. Hallelujah, today we are neither the house nor the sea—we are the boat! We are the boat with the King. One day the King stepped into our boat. Now we have the King in our boat, the church. But the crowd stood on the shore. Are you standing on the shore, or are you in the boat with the King? I can testify that I am not standing on the seashore—I am in the boat.
Verse 3 says, “And He spoke to them many things in parables.” He spoke these parables in the boat on the sea. Do you want to know the mysteries of the kingdom? If you do, then you must leave the house and not stand on the seashore, but get into the boat close to the Lord. This is the only place where we can understand the mysteries of the kingdom. Oh, we are in the church, in the boat! The church is neither the house of Israel nor the sea of the Gentiles; rather, it is the boat of the believers. In the church all the mysteries of the kingdom are revealed to us.
In order to know the mysteries of the kingdom, we must learn the skill of interpreting the parables. If you do not know how to allegorize the Bible, you will not be able to interpret the parables. For example, the boat is a parable. How can you interpret the boat if you do not know how to allegorize it? All the opposers need to follow this way. Then they will know the Bible. However, because they do not have the way to allegorize the Bible, they do not know it. Because we have the way to allegorize the Scriptures, we know the significance of the house, the sea, and the boat. Furthermore, we know all the parables. How happy I am to know the parables!
When I read Matthew 13 fifty years ago, I was bothered by so many things. I had many unanswered questions about what is found in this chapter. I bought some books on Matthew 13, but they were all worthless. These books even said that leaven refers to the power of today’s Christianity and that the tree is the wonderful and magnificent organization of Christianity. But as I read those books, I did not have a good feeling within me; I did not believe what they said. However, I did not have a way to understand this chapter. Therefore I wrote to Brother Nee, telling him of my desire to know the Bible word by word and asking him to recommend the best book to help me in this matter. In his reply he told me that the best set of books was the Synopsis of the Bible by John Nelson Darby. However, he pointed out that Darby’s Synopsis was extremely difficult to understand. When I read Darby’s Synopsis several years later, I discovered Brother Nee was right. I simply could not understand Darby’s writing. To speak the truth, I did not receive any help from Darby’s Synopsis as far as understanding Matthew was concerned. But through Brother Nee himself I received great help in knowing the parables. Now I can say with full assurance that we know the parables in Matthew 13. Nothing is hidden from us. To us, the mysteries of the kingdom are no longer mysteries, for these mysteries have all been opened to us.