Sunday AM April 15 2012   Faith Church   Mark 14:26-29

²⁶ And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; ²⁷ And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. ²⁸ For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. ²⁹ But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come.^[1]

             IN the reading of this parable we first see a problem with seeing who is playing what role in the story.  It could be that the one who casts seed into the ground is the Heavenly Father or it could be that this means the inferior servants of God for all ages.  If it is the Father it seems to present a problem because God is omniscient and the subject story says that the one who planted “knows not how” the growth takes place; so it can’t be God who would walk away from something and not know how it is progressing;  pluse the fact that God does not sleep nor rise. 

             R.C. Trench writes that it looks like it can’t be the ministers of God either, since only the Holy Spirit “puts in the sickle and reaps a harvest.” 

             IT looks like the answer is applicable in both ways.  God is the One in charge of the harvest and all the things that lead up to it. 

             *The part about nights and days passing and one knowing not how the process of growth happens signifies an absence of the unnecessary aspect of “after-carefulness.” 

             We are to sleep and to rise and to go about our daily business; and there are areas of our lives that, as we pass the time, we ‘know not how’ they are being worked by Divine hands.  Likewise, the ones who are teachers in the church are to have confidence and faith in the seed sown; “When it has found place in a heart, they are not to be tormented with anxiety concerning the final issue, but to have confidence in its indwelling power; for God undertakes to maintain its life.  They are to also be content that the seed should grow up without their knowing exactly how; the mystery of the life of God in any heart is unfathomable.  It has a law indeed, ‘first the blade, then the ear…’ but that law is hidden.  It is not of course meant that they are not to follow up their work; but then it is a different thing to impart life and to impart the sustenance for life.” (R.C. Trench)

             So, the spiritual life and well-being of a born-again person is never without the care and watchfulness of God; yet there are two times in the lifetime when God comes on the scene to us, in most powerful means.  At the beginning of the spiritual life, the new birth.   And when the Lord takes people home, which for them is their first interface with the harvest.  Between these times, the work of the Lord is moving ahead, going forward, never, indeed, without the daily supply of His Spirit, but not as obviously as at the two times mentioned. 

             We can also apply the above to the church; for the Lord, in His coming the first time, established His church in a strong and flourishing fashion.  And, at the end times, the Lord will again be plain to all as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  In these in-between times historically there have been occasions when the church looked like it was finished but God has protected it, and helped it surmount all of its tests, yet usually without overt demonstration. 

             God has left the Divine seed to grow, “day and night”, even next to the tares.  And only in the harvest of the end of the age, when the number of the elect is fulfilled, will He put in the sickle.  He shall “appear the second time unto salvation, reaping the earth, and gathering the wheat into His barns.” 

       When the Lord uses the words, “²⁸ For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself” then, it is to the exclusion of the continuous anxious agency of the sower. 

THE three stages of Spiritual Growth:

The blade

The ear

The full corn in the ear            Compare these stages with 1 John 2:12-14

¹² I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake. ¹³ I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father. ¹⁴ I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.^[2]

     With V. 29, compare the scripture Rev. 14:14-15

¹⁴ And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. ¹⁵ And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe^c. ^[3]

             The entire parable then gives us encouragement like Peter wrote about when he addresses the faithful in Christ Jesus.

1 Peter 1:23-25

²³ Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

²⁴ For^d all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: ²⁵ But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.

^[4]