The Parable of the Seed
Jesus describes the kingdom of God to a man who sows seed upon the soil, and though he does not understand how it happens, the seed sprouts and grows by itself. When the crop is fully ripe, the man immediately harvests it and partakes of its blessings.
In Mark 4:26-29Mark 4:26-29 commentary, commentary Jesus presents “The Parable of the Seed,” which is about the nature of the kingdom of God and its mysterious growth. There are no apparent parallel Gospel accounts for this parable.
“The Parable of the Seed” is one of the few teachings and/or parables of Jesus that is described only in the Gospel of Mark and is not explicitly referenced in any of the other Gospels.
In Mark’s Gospel, “The Parable of the Sower” is presented shortly before “The Parable of the Seed,” and “The Parable of the Mustard Seed” is presented immediately after it. This arrangement further appears to further link together these parables and its themes.
Jesus begins “The Parable of the Seed” by likening the kingdom of God to a man sowing seedupon the soil. This is the main comparison of the parable.
And He was saying, “The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil” (v 26).
The pronoun—He—in this verse refers to Jesus.
The expression that introduces this parable—And He was saying—appears to indicate that Jesus was saying this parable on multiple occasions. He likely said it more than once. He was likely saying this parable again and again to different audiences throughout His ministry.
The four elements of this parable are:
The kingdom of God—(what Jesus is describing in the parable)
A man who casts seed upon the soil
Seed
Soil
The term, kingdom of God, has multiple meanings. The kingdom of God can refer to:
The LORD’s promise of the Messianic kingdom—a time when the people of Israel are prosperous and exalted and led by their Messiah-King. This is a future, physical manifestation of the kingdom of God.
The reality and recognition of God’s eternal authority and rule over the world, including the present moment. This is the ever-present current reality of the spiritual kingdom of God.
The kingdomof God is an eternal reality. And within time it is both present and future. It is not of this world (John 18:36John 18:36 commentary). Yet it will one day be fully and physically realized on this world (Daniel 2:44Daniel 2:44 commentary, commentaryRevelation 11:15Revelation 11:15 commentary). In the current age, Jesus's followers can enter into kingdom life by faith (Matthew 6:33Matthew 6:33 commentary). Only those who are faithful witnesses will reign in God’s kingdom when it is fully and physically established (Matthew 7:21Matthew 7:21 commentary).
A man who cast seed upon the soil is called “a sower.”
The seed which the man casts upon the soil could refer to God’s word as it did in “The Parable of the Sower” (Luke 8:11Luke 8:11 commentary). But in this parable, the seed, seems to specifically refer to God’s word as it pertains to the message, vision, and principles of the kingdom of God.
Because the seed represents God’s word as it pertains to His kingdom, then in the context of this parable a sower is someone who teaches, proclaims, or casts a vision of what God’s kingdom is really like through an illustration or example of their words and deeds.
The soil likely refers to a receptive heart—as with the fourth soil that was described in “The Parable of the Sower”:
“And those are the ones on whom seed was sown on the good soil; and they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.” (Mark 4:20Mark 4:20 commentary).
Jesus’s likening of the mighty and everlasting kingdom of God to a humble man who castsseed upon the soil is a striking, possibly jarring, use of imagery.
How is the kingdom of God like this? What does Jesus mean by this simile?
The answer to these questions is perhaps better grasped when “The Parable of the Seed” is understood in context to some of its surrounding parables, namely:
Because of the parables’ shared elements and themes and their proximity to one another it seems apparent that “The Parable of Seed” is strongly connected to “The Parable of the Sower” and the “Parable of the Mustard Seed.”
The parable that comes first in this sequence is: “The Parable of the Sower.”
The main element “The Parable of Sower” focused on was the soil/heart. It depicted how different conditions of the heart affect spiritual growth, fruitfulness, and one’s response to the kingdom.
In “The Parable of the Sower,” Jesus compared four conditions of soil and their receptivity of seeds. The measure of crops produced by the four different soils represented the four conditions of believers’ hearts and their receptivity of God’s word and the fruitfulness of their lives.
Perhaps it was because “The Parable of the Sower” introduced the elements and themes common to these other parables that Jesus asked His disciples:
“Do you not understand this parable [The Parable of the Sower]? How will you understand all the parables?” (Mark 4:13bMark 4:13b commentary)
Understanding Jesus’s “Parable of the Sower” helps us understand His “Parable of the Seed” and how the kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil.
The second parable of this sequence is: “The Parable of the Seed.”
The main elements “The Parable of the Seed” focuses on is the word of God/seed which reveals thekingdom and its principles. God’s word causes an amazing and mysterious process of growth as it develops within a believer’s heart.
“The Parable of the Seed” depicts the stages of growth, showing that God's kingdom develops over time, according to His divine order and power, without human control or full understanding.
The third parable of this sequence is “The Parable of the Mustard Seed.”
The main point of “The Parable of the Mustard Seed” is the incredible outcome from the seed. It demonstrates how God's kingdom and its life-fostering results astonishingly expand far beyond what at first seems possible.
In “The Parable of the Mustard Seed,” Jesus uses this seed as a picture of the growth possible for believers. Mustard seeds are some of the smallest of seeds, yet they grow into a mighty life-giving tree. Jesus compares this transformation to the abundant flourishing that believers share and enjoy when they live by faith according to God’s kingdom principles.
After asserting the main comparison of “The Parable of the Seed”—The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil—Jesus continues:
and he goes to bed at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts and grows—how, he himself does not know (v 27).
After casting the seed upon the soil, the sower’s role is finished for the time being. All he can do is wait for the seed to grow. He may continue his daily routine, going to bed at night and rising by day, while the seed undergoes a mysterious transformation as it sprouts and grows.
The expression how, he himself does not know speaks to the divine mystery of how the kingdom of God mysteriously sprouts and grows within the hearts of believers where its seed was sown. Once sown, God’s kingdom sprouts and grows independent of human understanding or intervention.
This parable highlights the inscrutability of God’s workings in bringing about spiritual growth.
Solomon also commented on this mystery:
“Just as you do not know the path of the wind and how bones are formed in the womb of the pregnant woman, so you do not know the activity of God who makes all things.” (Ecclesiastes 11:5Ecclesiastes 11:5 commentary)
Likewise, Paul minimizes his and Apollos’s roles in sharing the Gospel to the Corinthians as perfunctory and mechanical operations compared to the mysterious life-giving power of God:
“What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth.” (1 Corinthians 3:5-71 Corinthians 3:5-7 commentary)
The sower’s role is to cast seed upon the soil. It is to share the word about the kingdom of God and let God do the work. It is not for the sower to try to control or manipulate outcomes. It is not even for the sower to understand how the growth takes place. It is unnecessary for him to know these things in order for him to faithfully fulfill his role as a sower.
The man who casts seed upon the soil is simply to proclaim the kingdom of God and trust that God will accomplish the results He desires. This is to be done by word and by deed.
Throughout the New Testament, believers are exhorted to walk in the obedience of faith, trusting that God’s promised benefits will more than outweigh the difficulties that come from resisting the world, including rejection and loss from the world. In this case, a promised benefit is a mysterious growth and blessing that goes beyond even our own understanding.
After describing how the sower who casts seed upon the soildoes not know howthe seed sprouts and grows, Jesus describes the mysterious process of growth, one stage at time:
The soil produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head (v 28).
Once the seed is cast and sown upon the soil, the soil unlocks.
With the seed sown upon the soil, thesoilproduces crops by itself.
The term by itself (Greek: “automatos”) indicates that the soil yields produce automatically.
If the seed represents the enunciated truths and principles of God’s kingdom and the soil represents the heart of a believer who is receptive to those kingdom truths, then God’s kingdom begins to automatically sprout inside the hearts of the faithful. This means that when any believer is a good example to another, they are sowing seeds that can sprout and grow and produce fruits that exceed our imagination.
This is similar to the principle of Jesus’s “Parable of the Vine” (John 15:1-11John 15:1-11 commentary), when He told His disciples:
“he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5bJohn 15:5b commentary)
This principle is also similar to Paul’s teaching that choosing to be led by the Holy Spirit naturally produces an outcome that is the fruit of the Spirit:
“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh... But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law… But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” (Galatians 5:16Galatians 5:16 commentary, 1818 commentary, 22-2322-23 commentary)
The kingdom producing fruit within the heart of a receptive believer who trusts God’s word is a natural and orderly progression. It is as natural as an implanted seedfirst sprouting into the blade, then forming the head, then the mature grain growing in the head. In this illustration, the implanted seed comes through the agency and impact of another believer.
The normal sequence for such a planting would be that the person’s life example creates a legitimacy that causes the recipient to receive the word from them. Then the implanted word begins to do its transforming work.
As we see in James 1:21James 1:21 commentary, commentary receiving God’s word into our hearts saves us from the evil of our inherent sin nature. As James 1:14James 1:14 commentary states, the primary means of temptation comes from our inner lusts. By receiving God’s word into our hearts, our lives are delivered from the adverse consequence of these sinful lusts in our lives. Romans 12:1-2Romans 12:1-2 commentary further indicates that part of the process of being transformed comes from a renewing of our minds.
Finally, the crop becomes ripe for harvest.
But when the crop permits, he immediately puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come (v 29).
The conjunction—but—is used to contrast the gradual, unseen growth of the seed with the sudden, decisive action of the harvest. The harvest is the season or time when thecrop is ripe to enjoy. The sower cast seed upon the soil, God made it grow from seed to blade to head to mature grain, but now the sower is able to enjoy the benefits and blessings of the harvest.
Once the benefits of the kingdom seed have matured into the kingdom harvest, the sower immediately puts in the sickle to reap the kingdom blessings he has sown and God brought to fruition. The blessings, according to “The Parable of the Sower,” can be thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much (Mark 4:20Mark 4:20 commentary).
Paul expresses the same principle of multiplication this way: “For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison” (2 Corinthians 4:202 Corinthians 4:20 commentary).
And Paul reminds believers that they will reap what they sow (Galatians 5:7Galatians 5:7 commentary) and that “the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life” (Galatians 5:9Galatians 5:9 commentary), before exhorting the Galatians to “not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary” (Galatians 5:10Galatians 5:10 commentary).
Often in Biblical literature, theharvest symbolizes judgment, such as:
Joel 3:13Joel 3:13 commentary, commentary where God’s judgment is pictured as Him harvesting with a sickle,
“The Parable of the Wheat and the Tares” (Matthew 13:24-30Matthew 13:24-30 commentary, 36-4336-43 commentary), where God separating the wicked from the righteous is pictured as separating fruitless tares from fruit-bearing wheat at the harvest, and
Revelation 14:15Revelation 14:15 commentary, commentary where God’s judgment upon the earth is pictured as a great harvest of ripe grapes.
This meaning of judgment applies here as well, but of a judgment that leads to rewards (1 Corinthians 9:241 Corinthians 9:24 commentary). Here the harvest pictures the reaping of a bountiful crop, which are the benefits that come from God’s word. This would include things such as love, joy, peace, patience, fellowship, purpose, etc. that come from following Jesus and His kingdom principles in this lifetime. As 2 Peter 1:42 Peter 1:4 commentary states, God’s promises allow believers to be “partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.”
“The Parable of the Seed” teaches that while humans are responsible for sowing the word, the growth and ultimate fruition of the kingdom of God are divine mysteries, unfolding according to God’s sovereign timing and order.
The points and applications of this parable are for believers:
to be faithful and cast the seed of God’s kingdom, and
to trust in God’s process. This includes His timing.
Therefore, we should be patient, recognizing that spiritual growth is gradual and often imperceptible, yet leads to a divinely ordained and abundant harvest.
Jesus’s comparison of the kingdom of God to a man who casts seed upon the soil and the fruitful outcome also seems to be related to what Isaiah said about the word of the LORD:
“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, And do not return there without watering the earth And making it bear and sprout, And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:10-11Isaiah 55:10-11 commentary)
Here Isaiah compares God’s word to rain and snow that water the earth, causing it to sprout and provide seed to the sower and bread to the eater. This emphasizes the efficacy of God’s word in accomplishing His purposes.
Many who heard Jesus’s “Parable of the Seed,” including the disciples, were faithful followers of Jesus and they eagerly wished for God’s kingdom to be physically unfurled upon the world during the earthly life of Jesus. But while His kingdom was offered, it was rejected by His own (Matthew 27:24-26Matthew 27:24-26 commentary, commentaryJohn 1:10-11John 1:10-11 commentary).
The physical inauguration of the kingdom of God on this earth mysteriously awaits Christ’s return. At that time His kingdom will be inaugurated upon the earth (Revelation 11:15Revelation 11:15 commentary). In the meantime, its seeds are being cast upon the hearts of men, mysteriously sprouting and maturing unknown to men, until the harvest.
Recognizing that God’s timing was not his own, James exhorts believers:
“Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains.” (James 5:7James 5:7 commentary)
This patience reflects trust in God’s perfect timing and His sovereign work in bringing His kingdom to fruition.
In the meantime, let us continue to seek God’s kingdom (Matthew 6:33Matthew 6:33 commentary) and to pray as Jesus taught us to pray:
“Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10Matthew 6:10 commentary)
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Mark 4:26-29 meaning
In Mark 4:26-29Mark 4:26-29 commentary, commentary Jesus presents “The Parable of the Seed,” which is about the nature of the kingdom of God and its mysterious growth. There are no apparent parallel Gospel accounts for this parable.
“The Parable of the Seed” is one of the few teachings and/or parables of Jesus that is described only in the Gospel of Mark and is not explicitly referenced in any of the other Gospels.
“The Parable of the Seed” has symbolic elements and themes that are similar to those found in the “Parable of the Sower” (Matthew 13:1-23Matthew 13:1-23 commentary, commentary Mark 4:1-20Mark 4:1-20 commentary, commentary Luke 8:4-15Luke 8:4-15 commentary) and the “Parable of the Mustard Seed” (Matthew 13:31-32Matthew 13:31-32 commentary, commentary Mark 4:30-32Mark 4:30-32 commentary, commentary Luke 13:18-19Luke 13:18-19 commentary).
In Mark’s Gospel, “The Parable of the Sower” is presented shortly before “The Parable of the Seed,” and “The Parable of the Mustard Seed” is presented immediately after it. This arrangement further appears to further link together these parables and its themes.
Jesus begins “The Parable of the Seed” by likening the kingdom of God to a man sowing seed upon the soil. This is the main comparison of the parable.
And He was saying, “The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil” (v 26).
The pronoun—He—in this verse refers to Jesus.
The expression that introduces this parable—And He was saying—appears to indicate that Jesus was saying this parable on multiple occasions. He likely said it more than once. He was likely saying this parable again and again to different audiences throughout His ministry.
The four elements of this parable are:
The term, kingdom of God, has multiple meanings. The kingdom of God can refer to:
The kingdom of God is an eternal reality. And within time it is both present and future. It is not of this world (John 18:36John 18:36 commentary). Yet it will one day be fully and physically realized on this world (Daniel 2:44Daniel 2:44 commentary, commentary Revelation 11:15Revelation 11:15 commentary). In the current age, Jesus's followers can enter into kingdom life by faith (Matthew 6:33Matthew 6:33 commentary). Only those who are faithful witnesses will reign in God’s kingdom when it is fully and physically established (Matthew 7:21Matthew 7:21 commentary).
A man who cast seed upon the soil is called “a sower.”
The seed which the man casts upon the soil could refer to God’s word as it did in “The Parable of the Sower” (Luke 8:11Luke 8:11 commentary). But in this parable, the seed, seems to specifically refer to God’s word as it pertains to the message, vision, and principles of the kingdom of God.
Because the seed represents God’s word as it pertains to His kingdom, then in the context of this parable a sower is someone who teaches, proclaims, or casts a vision of what God’s kingdom is really like through an illustration or example of their words and deeds.
The soil likely refers to a receptive heart—as with the fourth soil that was described in “The Parable of the Sower”:
“And those are the ones on whom seed was sown on the good soil; and they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.”
(Mark 4:20Mark 4:20 commentary).
Jesus’s likening of the mighty and everlasting kingdom of God to a humble man who casts seed upon the soil is a striking, possibly jarring, use of imagery.
How is the kingdom of God like this? What does Jesus mean by this simile?
The answer to these questions is perhaps better grasped when “The Parable of the Seed” is understood in context to some of its surrounding parables, namely:
“The Parable of the Seed” also has symbolic elements and themes that are similar to those found in the “Parable of the Sower” (Matthew 13:1-23Matthew 13:1-23 commentary, commentary Mark 4:1-20Mark 4:1-20 commentary, commentary Luke 8:4-15Luke 8:4-15 commentary) and the “Parable of the Mustard Seed” (Matthew 13:31-32Matthew 13:31-32 commentary, commentary Mark 4:30-32Mark 4:30-32 commentary, commentary Luke 13:18-19Luke 13:18-19 commentary).
Because of the parables’ shared elements and themes and their proximity to one another it seems apparent that “The Parable of Seed” is strongly connected to “The Parable of the Sower” and the “Parable of the Mustard Seed.”
The main element “The Parable of Sower” focused on was the soil/heart. It depicted how different conditions of the heart affect spiritual growth, fruitfulness, and one’s response to the kingdom.
In “The Parable of the Sower,” Jesus compared four conditions of soil and their receptivity of seeds. The measure of crops produced by the four different soils represented the four conditions of believers’ hearts and their receptivity of God’s word and the fruitfulness of their lives.
Perhaps it was because “The Parable of the Sower” introduced the elements and themes common to these other parables that Jesus asked His disciples:
“Do you not understand this parable [The Parable of the Sower]? How will you understand all the parables?”
(Mark 4:13bMark 4:13b commentary)
Understanding Jesus’s “Parable of the Sower” helps us understand His “Parable of the Seed” and how the kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil.
The main elements “The Parable of the Seed” focuses on is the word of God/seed which reveals the kingdom and its principles. God’s word causes an amazing and mysterious process of growth as it develops within a believer’s heart.
“The Parable of the Seed” depicts the stages of growth, showing that God's kingdom develops over time, according to His divine order and power, without human control or full understanding.
The main point of “The Parable of the Mustard Seed” is the incredible outcome from the seed. It demonstrates how God's kingdom and its life-fostering results astonishingly expand far beyond what at first seems possible.
In “The Parable of the Mustard Seed,” Jesus uses this seed as a picture of the growth possible for believers. Mustard seeds are some of the smallest of seeds, yet they grow into a mighty life-giving tree. Jesus compares this transformation to the abundant flourishing that believers share and enjoy when they live by faith according to God’s kingdom principles.
After asserting the main comparison of “The Parable of the Seed”—The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil—Jesus continues:
and he goes to bed at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts and grows—how, he himself does not know (v 27).
After casting the seed upon the soil, the sower’s role is finished for the time being. All he can do is wait for the seed to grow. He may continue his daily routine, going to bed at night and rising by day, while the seed undergoes a mysterious transformation as it sprouts and grows.
The expression how, he himself does not know speaks to the divine mystery of how the kingdom of God mysteriously sprouts and grows within the hearts of believers where its seed was sown. Once sown, God’s kingdom sprouts and grows independent of human understanding or intervention.
This parable highlights the inscrutability of God’s workings in bringing about spiritual growth.
Solomon also commented on this mystery:
“Just as you do not know the path of the wind and how bones are formed in the womb of the pregnant woman, so you do not know the activity of God who makes all things.”
(Ecclesiastes 11:5Ecclesiastes 11:5 commentary)
Likewise, Paul minimizes his and Apollos’s roles in sharing the Gospel to the Corinthians as perfunctory and mechanical operations compared to the mysterious life-giving power of God:
“What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth.”
(1 Corinthians 3:5-71 Corinthians 3:5-7 commentary)
The sower’s role is to cast seed upon the soil. It is to share the word about the kingdom of God and let God do the work. It is not for the sower to try to control or manipulate outcomes. It is not even for the sower to understand how the growth takes place. It is unnecessary for him to know these things in order for him to faithfully fulfill his role as a sower.
The man who casts seed upon the soil is simply to proclaim the kingdom of God and trust that God will accomplish the results He desires. This is to be done by word and by deed.
Throughout the New Testament, believers are exhorted to walk in the obedience of faith, trusting that God’s promised benefits will more than outweigh the difficulties that come from resisting the world, including rejection and loss from the world. In this case, a promised benefit is a mysterious growth and blessing that goes beyond even our own understanding.
After describing how the sower who casts seed upon the soil does not know how the seed sprouts and grows, Jesus describes the mysterious process of growth, one stage at time:
The soil produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head (v 28).
Once the seed is cast and sown upon the soil, the soil unlocks.
With the seed sown upon the soil, the soil produces crops by itself.
The term by itself (Greek: “automatos”) indicates that the soil yields produce automatically.
If the seed represents the enunciated truths and principles of God’s kingdom and the soil represents the heart of a believer who is receptive to those kingdom truths, then God’s kingdom begins to automatically sprout inside the hearts of the faithful. This means that when any believer is a good example to another, they are sowing seeds that can sprout and grow and produce fruits that exceed our imagination.
This is similar to the principle of Jesus’s “Parable of the Vine” (John 15:1-11John 15:1-11 commentary), when He told His disciples:
“he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.”
(John 15:5bJohn 15:5b commentary)
This principle is also similar to Paul’s teaching that choosing to be led by the Holy Spirit naturally produces an outcome that is the fruit of the Spirit:
“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh... But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law… But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”
(Galatians 5:16Galatians 5:16 commentary, 1818 commentary, 22-2322-23 commentary)
The kingdom producing fruit within the heart of a receptive believer who trusts God’s word is a natural and orderly progression. It is as natural as an implanted seed first sprouting into the blade, then forming the head, then the mature grain growing in the head. In this illustration, the implanted seed comes through the agency and impact of another believer.
The normal sequence for such a planting would be that the person’s life example creates a legitimacy that causes the recipient to receive the word from them. Then the implanted word begins to do its transforming work.
As we see in James 1:21James 1:21 commentary, commentary receiving God’s word into our hearts saves us from the evil of our inherent sin nature. As James 1:14James 1:14 commentary states, the primary means of temptation comes from our inner lusts. By receiving God’s word into our hearts, our lives are delivered from the adverse consequence of these sinful lusts in our lives. Romans 12:1-2Romans 12:1-2 commentary further indicates that part of the process of being transformed comes from a renewing of our minds.
Finally, the crop becomes ripe for harvest.
But when the crop permits, he immediately puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come (v 29).
The conjunction—but—is used to contrast the gradual, unseen growth of the seed with the sudden, decisive action of the harvest. The harvest is the season or time when the crop is ripe to enjoy. The sower cast seed upon the soil, God made it grow from seed to blade to head to mature grain, but now the sower is able to enjoy the benefits and blessings of the harvest.
Once the benefits of the kingdom seed have matured into the kingdom harvest, the sower immediately puts in the sickle to reap the kingdom blessings he has sown and God brought to fruition. The blessings, according to “The Parable of the Sower,” can be thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much (Mark 4:20Mark 4:20 commentary).
Paul expresses the same principle of multiplication this way: “For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison” (2 Corinthians 4:202 Corinthians 4:20 commentary).
And Paul reminds believers that they will reap what they sow (Galatians 5:7Galatians 5:7 commentary) and that “the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life” (Galatians 5:9Galatians 5:9 commentary), before exhorting the Galatians to “not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary” (Galatians 5:10Galatians 5:10 commentary).
Often in Biblical literature, the harvest symbolizes judgment, such as:
This meaning of judgment applies here as well, but of a judgment that leads to rewards (1 Corinthians 9:241 Corinthians 9:24 commentary). Here the harvest pictures the reaping of a bountiful crop, which are the benefits that come from God’s word. This would include things such as love, joy, peace, patience, fellowship, purpose, etc. that come from following Jesus and His kingdom principles in this lifetime. As 2 Peter 1:42 Peter 1:4 commentary states, God’s promises allow believers to be “partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.”
“The Parable of the Seed” teaches that while humans are responsible for sowing the word, the growth and ultimate fruition of the kingdom of God are divine mysteries, unfolding according to God’s sovereign timing and order.
The points and applications of this parable are for believers:
Jesus’s comparison of the kingdom of God to a man who casts seed upon the soil and the fruitful outcome also seems to be related to what Isaiah said about the word of the LORD:
“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
And do not return there without watering the earth
And making it bear and sprout,
And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater;
So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth;
It will not return to Me empty,
Without accomplishing what I desire,
And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.”
(Isaiah 55:10-11Isaiah 55:10-11 commentary)
Here Isaiah compares God’s word to rain and snow that water the earth, causing it to sprout and provide seed to the sower and bread to the eater. This emphasizes the efficacy of God’s word in accomplishing His purposes.
Many who heard Jesus’s “Parable of the Seed,” including the disciples, were faithful followers of Jesus and they eagerly wished for God’s kingdom to be physically unfurled upon the world during the earthly life of Jesus. But while His kingdom was offered, it was rejected by His own (Matthew 27:24-26Matthew 27:24-26 commentary, commentary John 1:10-11John 1:10-11 commentary).
The physical inauguration of the kingdom of God on this earth mysteriously awaits Christ’s return. At that time His kingdom will be inaugurated upon the earth (Revelation 11:15Revelation 11:15 commentary). In the meantime, its seeds are being cast upon the hearts of men, mysteriously sprouting and maturing unknown to men, until the harvest.
Recognizing that God’s timing was not his own, James exhorts believers:
“Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains.”
(James 5:7James 5:7 commentary)
This patience reflects trust in God’s perfect timing and His sovereign work in bringing His kingdom to fruition.
In the meantime, let us continue to seek God’s kingdom (Matthew 6:33Matthew 6:33 commentary) and to pray as Jesus taught us to pray:
“Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.”
(Matthew 6:10Matthew 6:10 commentary)