In the gospel of Mark you will find that Jesus began teaching the people about the Kingdom of Heaven. We can learn from this, that it is God's desire that you know about His Kingdom. There were so many people that Jesus had to get on a boat and push away from the shore to be able to address everyone. This is a witness to the fact, that inside all of us is the desire to know the truth. However, did you realize that there is a qualifier that must be met in order to learn the mysteries of the Kingdom? I was explaining to someone the other day that a teacher is only as good as his student. The student has to humble himself in order to learn. This is a lesson that a teacher has learned many years ago. However, some have failed to understand that learning is a lifelong process. Yes I still learn as you do. One of the things that I always pass on to my students is that I do not profess to know all things and I teach what I have learned from the Master, who does know all things, Jesus our Lord. Jesus began teaching in parables. A parable is a type of analogy. In other words, a story is given that challenges the hearer to use problem solving and decision making in order to understand the underlying meaning of the story given. In western views, it could be seen as being similar to a riddle. Jesus began His teaching about the Sower/Farmer who went forth sowing seed.
Mar 4:3 Hearken: Behold, the sower went forth to sow:
Mar 4:4 and it came to pass, as he sowed, some seed fell by the way side, and the birds came and devoured it.
Mar 4:5 And other fell on the rocky ground, where it had not much earth; and straightway it sprang up, because it had no deepness of earth:
Mar 4:6 and when the sun was risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away.
Mar 4:7 And other fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit.
Mar 4:8 And others fell into the good ground, and yielded fruit, growing up and increasing; and brought forth, thirty fold, and sixty fold, and a hundred fold.
After Jesus finished teaching this parable He told them, "he who has ears to hear, let him hear." Then, that was it. End of the teaching. No more was said. Jesus had the men take Him back to shore.
Later, when Jesus was sitting alone with the disciples, people came to Jesus. They asked Jesus to explain to them the meaning of the parable that He had shared earlier. What did Jesus say to them? Mar 4:11 And he said unto them, Unto you is given the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all things are done in parables:
Mar 4:12 that seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest haply they should turn again, and it should be forgiven them. Wow! Jesus explained the requirement to becoming a student. You must humble yourself and seek. Where were the other people? Didn't they hear the same parable? Didn't they hear the same call? Yes, but the ones that have ears to hear are the ones that seek after the truth. All of the people heard the same story. Yet only these few came to Jesus for the answer. It takes your initiative and humbleness to seek the truth. Not many are humble enough to do this. Jesus said, Seek and you shall find. Ask and it will be given. Knock and the door shall be opened! I wonder how many people read these same scriptures over and over and yet never ask? Never seek? Never knock on the Saviors door? These few came and they sought. Jesus proclaims to them that they shall know the Mysteries of the Kingdom! There have been those that have read what I share and never understand the beauty that is placed before them, because they already have themselves indoctrinated into their own beliefs and yes, even if Jesus taught them directly like the multitude that He taught that day on the boat, they will never receive the Mysteries of the Kingdom. In fact, through the recording of the Saviors words He still teaches the masses, Yet only those who humble themselves to learn will receive the Mystery that is hidden inside His glorious Kingdom. Jesus then asked these few, the following question and then gives us a great insight that this parable is a key parable for understanding all of His other parables that He has and will teach. Mar 4:13 And he saith unto them, Know ye not this parable? and how shall ye know all the parables?
So as we educate ourselves we are going to see other parables unlock before us because of this KEY parable.
In verse 14 Jesus states that the sower sows the word. The Word of God is a seed. It has a growth period, or cycle of time. Also, we know that the word of God is creative and alive.
Isa 55:11 so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
God reveals to us that is word is alive and produces. When the word is sown it is sown with that knowledge. The unfortunate thing today is that most people are unaware of this fact. I hear preachers that will preach and use passages of scripture like a charismatic catch phrase rather than honoring it for the power it contains. Then Jesus begins to share the different soils that the seed is cast. We know them. First the wayside, the rocky, the thorns and finally the good ground. The wayside is simply put the ground of ignorance. The majority of people fit into this category. They hear the word and will not humble themselves to ask for it's meaning. They foolishly believe they know it all. So the seed lays out in the open and the devil comes and recovers the seed taking it away. Why? Because, of our misunderstanding. You may think you have it all figured out. However, your lack of humility will cause you to lose the seed of life that has been cast before you. It is your pride that opens the door for the devil to steal the seed of the kingdom. Again, we know we are dealing with the kingdom because everywhere Jesus went, His message was the same. Repent, the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. And, He explained to His seekers that the Mysteries of the Kingdom would be given to them.
The next ground was the stony ground. The seed was received and it began to grow. However, something happened. It's roots were scorched. The heat of the sun symbolizes tribulation. What kind of tribulation? It will be a persecution that comes from having the seed. The seed of the Kingdom is an offense to the sin nature of man and to the devil. This is not a one time test. No you will have this battle daily. The seed of the Kingdom will be battled against your own sin nature. Every time you choose the Kingdom over the world, you boldly declare to yourself and everyone else that you are walking by faith and not by sight. That is why it is called the fight of faith.
2Ti 4:7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith:
The next ground was the ground of thorns. Again, the seed took root and it grew. However, growing around it was thorns. The thorns choked the plant and killed it. What was the thorns? Cares, riches and pleasures of this world. Cares are your daily problems. It could be health problems, money problems, persecution, your daily struggle. I say your daily struggle for a reason. It is something that you have taken upon yourself. It consumes your every waking thought and even disturbs your sleep. It eats away at relationships, personal wealth, peace of mind. It blinds you to the solutions available to you that are stored in the Kingdom. Riches are best described as the love of wealth. You can be broke and not have a dime in the bank but your love of wealth, your consistent search for it, drives you. Rich men who are consumed with riches are never rich enough. They try to make their wealth greater. Finally, the pleasures of this world. The pleasures of this world makes a person jump from fad to fad. Whatever the next big thing is they are on it. The new car they have will be traded off for the next great one while driving themselves deeper into debt. The new dress that they just bought will only last for the day and tomorrow is another shopping spree. Wealth is wasted away on the pleasure that is heaped upon the individual. Finally, the good ground! What brought about the good ground? The good ground is brought about by the person that sought after the word held onto it, nothing wavering, after great patience witnessing it bringing forth great fruit.
Mar 4:20 And those are they that were sown upon the good ground; such as hear the word, and accept it, and bear fruit, thirty fold, and sixty fold, and a hundred fold.
We have good ground but there are differing harvest. Why is this? Guess what? Jesus explains it.
Mar 4:21 And he said unto them, Is the lamp brought to be put under the bushel, or under the bed, and not to be put on the stand?
Mar 4:22 For there is nothing hid, save that it should be manifested; neither was anything made secret, but that it should come to light.
Mar 4:23 If any man hath ears to hear, let him hear.
What is the lamp? Or what is the light that Jesus is speaking of? John answered that.
John 3:21 But he who practices truth comes to the Light so that his works may be revealed, that they exist, having been worked in God.
So, the lamp is the truth. The truth was never meant to be hid. However, there is a qualifier for the truth. What is it? He who has ears to hear, let him hear. Again, we must continue seeking. So our harvest amount is dependent upon our seeking. In fact, Jesus continued by stating the following,
Mar 4:24 And he said unto them, Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete it shall be measured unto you; and more shall be given unto you.
Mar 4:25 For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken away even that which he hath.
In another version it says this,
Mar 4:24 He went on to say, "Pay attention to what you're listening to! Knowledge will be measured out to you by the measure of attention you give. This is the way knowledge increases.
Mar 4:25 Those who understand these mysteries will be given more knowledge. However, some people don't understand these mysteries. Even what they understand will be taken away from them."
So, if the cares of life, tribulations, riches, lust, whatever it may be distracts you, you will lose whatever knowledge you have gained about the kingdom. And your increase of the knowledge of the kingdom will be in result to your search of them. Finally, Jesus teaches another parable noted here in Mark that unlocks the understanding of the progressive growth of the kingdom.
Mar 4:26 And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed upon the earth;
Mar 4:27 and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should spring up and grow, he knoweth not how.
Mar 4:28 The earth beareth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.
Mar 4:29 But when the fruit is ripe, straightway he putteth forth the sickle, because the harvest is come.
Jesus explains to the seeker the growth process of the Kingdom of heaven. It was sown into the Earth and came forth as a blade. Now, to a city boy like myself I could drive by a field and my mom and dad would say looks like that farmer planted himself some cotton. Now, I could look at that field just as serious as you could look at it and I would have no idea what was planted until the whole fruit in the ear came. However, to a farmer, he could tell by the blade that came out of the ground what was planted. Could someone be as blind to the blade of the kingdom as I was to the blade of that cotton plant? Of course! However, to help us identify things, Jesus gave us identifiers. The growth process was the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. The time period that Jesus first came into the Earth was a growth time period. The nation of Israel was looking for the Messiah. The knew that the Messiah would come and establish His government and they would rule with Him. I can imagine the priest all telling the people the Messiah is coming soon and we will come out of the rule of these brutal heathen Romans. The problem? They didn't understand the Kingdom. When God spoke through His servant Isaiah, God stated that the Messiah would come with His government on His shoulders. This verse is still misinterpreted today. Unable to understand the growth process of the Kingdom has left folks unaware of important scriptures that are prophetically aligned for this generation. When Jesus arrived He made a time sensitive statement that many overlook today. A Pharisee by the name of Nicodemus, who was one of the important rulers came to Jesus under the cover of darkness. Like most folks that have a hidden agenda Nicodemus started the conversation with a bunch of compliments leading to what his objective line of questioning was going to be, but Jesus stopped Nicodemus with a great statement.
John 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except one be born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
I have heard many teachings over this verse and I am sure you have also. However, Jesus made this statement in response to the compliments of Nicodemus. What did Nicodemus say? Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that thou doest, except God be with him. What is it that we are missing? Jesus has just explained to Nicodemus, You are praising the signs and miracles, but what Nicodemus was failing to truly see was the operation of the Kingdom of God.
Wow! Are so blind today? This was life and life more abundantly that was only perceived by those that were born again. Well Nicodemus asked the same question that many people ask today. How can you be born twice?
John 3:5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except one be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God!
We have been taught that this scripture in reference to the being born of water means being born of the word. Why? Because Paul made mention of the washing of the water of the word in Ephesians. So scholars have taken everywhere there is mention of water to be symbolic to the word. What if Jesus wasn't being symbolic. What if Jesus was speaking plain knowledge to a teacher?
Mat 11:12 And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and men of violence take it by force.
Everything up until that time was brought about by those that understood the kingdom and took it by any means necessary. From Adam to Jacob was the blade time period. The Kingdom grew from the blade time period to the ear or stalk period when Jacob was given a new blessing.
Gen 32:28 And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for thou hast striven with God and with men, and hast prevailed. The blade had become the ear. Instead of the kingdom being passed down through a man it now came to a nation, Israel. The full fruit in the ear was soon to happen. Jesus explained it to Nicodemus and yet Nicodemus walked away not understanding. Can we hear the truth and not be able to walk in it? The Kingdom of Heaven was given to the world through a completed act of Jesus. Until this time, only those that had the Spirit resting upon them would be able to enter into the kingdom. Jesus was taking this thing global. Why? Because, God so loves the world. Soon through the newborn experience through the finished works of Jesus would give birth to a new life. Jesus best explained it in the sermon on the mount. To find the kingdom, one would have to acknowledge their own poor beggarly condition, this would lead you to the gates. However, once you got there you would find the gates to the greatest kingdom on this planet locked. Great mourning would occur. The good news? You will be comforted. How? Jesus has provided you with the keys to the Kingdom. You receive the key by receiving Him.Jesus would open the gates for the kingdom of heaven to be in you. By receiving Jesus as your Lord and Savior the seed of the Kingdom has been planted inside of you. It will grow. First the blade, the ear and then the full grain in the ear. Hold on to it. Have patience, even when persecution comes, and it will. Stand fast even when cares, riches and pleasures come to lure you away. As the kingdom grows within you, you will learn to walk in it affecting those around you and yes, even the heavens above you. If you haven't chose Jesus as your Lord and Savior, I would like to invite you to do so today. The Lord is coming soon. The sickle is about to be thrust forth and He is going to take a mighty harvest. Will you ask Jesus in your heart today? Simply say Lord Jesus, I repent of following after my own way. It was a way, but it wasn't Your Way. I know that You are the Way, the Truth and the Life. I know that the only way to the Father is through You. Forgive me. Set my feet on Your path of righteousness. I receive Your salvation and Your Kingdom today. I pledge my life and my service to fulfilling the will of God through the Kingdom of Heaven in this Earth. Thank You for Your saving grace. Amen!
John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life.
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