THE SECOND PART: A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
The Gospel according to Mark
Message Three—The Sowing, Growth, and Development of the Seed of the Kingdom
Scripture Reading: Mark 4:3, 11, 14, 26-29
I. The New Testament reveals that the Triune God has been incarnated in order to be sown into His chosen people and then to develop within them into a kingdom; this is the intrinsic element of the entire teaching of the New Testament—John 1:14; Col. 2:9; Mark 4:26-29; Rev. 11:15; 21:2.
II. God’s economy concerning His kingdom was a hidden mystery, which has been unveiled to the Lord’s disciples—Mark 4:11:
A. Since the nature and character of the kingdom of God are wholly divine, and the elements through which it is brought forth are the divine life and the divine light, the kingdom of God, especially in its reality as the genuine church in this age, is still entirely a mystery to the natural man—vv. 3, 21, 26; 1 Cor. 2:14.
B. Divine revelation is required to understand the kingdom of God—Eph. 1:17-18; 3:3; Rom. 16:25-26.
III. The kingdom of God is not merely a material realm in which God rules over His people and exercises His authority to carry out His governmental administration so that they may enter into this realm to enjoy eternal blessing; the kingdom of God is actually God Himself—Mark 1:15; Matt. 6:33; John 3:3:
A. God Himself is everything as the content of His kingdom—1 Cor. 4:20; 15:28.
B. God is life, having the nature, ability, and shape of the divine life, which forms the realm of God’s ruling—John 3:15.
C. The life of God is the kingdom of God, and the kingdom of God is the realm of the divine life for this life to move, to work, to rule, and to govern so that life may accomplish its purpose—John 3:3.
D. Those who live in the kingdom of God have God as their life; God lives in them, through them, and out of them, and thus they express God—Phil. 1:21a.
IV. The kingdom of God is Christ Himself as the seed of life sown into us, growing in us, spreading in us, and maturing in us until there is a full harvest—the manifestation of the kingdom—Mark 4:26-29:
A. This is revealed in the parable of the seed in Mark 4:26-29:
1. The man in verse 26 is the Son of God as the Sower who came to sow Himself as the seed of life in the word into men’s heart so that He might grow and live in them and be expressed from within them—v. 14.
2. The seed is the seed of the divine life sown into the Lord’s believers—1 John 3:9; 1 Pet. 1:23.
3. The casting of the seed on the earth indicates that the kingdom of God, which is the issue and goal of the Lord’s gospel, and the church in this age are a matter of life of God, which sprouts, grows, bears fruit, matures, and produce a harvest—Mark 4:26; Rom. 14:17.
4. Christ establishes the kingdom by sowing Himself as the seed of life into believing people so that the kingdom may grow; this is absolutely a matter of the growth in life, not of our work—1 Pet. 1:23; 1 John 3:9; Matt. 13:8.
5. Regeneration is the entrance into the kingdom of God, and the growth of the divine life within the believers is the development of the kingdom of God—John 3:3, 5.
6. The kingdom of God is the reality of the church brought forth by the resurrection life of Christ through the gospel—Rom. 14:17; 1 Cor. 4:15.
B. The kingdom of God is actually the God-man, the Lord Jesus, sown as a seed into the believers and developing into a realm over which God can rule as His kingdom in His divine life—Luke 17:20-21; Mark 4:3, 26-29:
1. The kingdom of God is a wonderful person—the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God—Matt. 16:16.
2. The Lord Jesus, who is the embodiment of the Triune God, came to be the kingdom of God by sowing Himself as the seed of the kingdom into God’s chosen people—Col. 2:9; Luke 17:20-21; Matt. 13:3-23:
a. The Lord is both the Sower and the seed sown; as the Sower, the Lord sows Himself as the seed of life through His word—Mark 4:3, 14.
b. God’s life, which is Christ Himself, is the seed of the realm of the divine life that develops into the kingdom for His ruling—vv. 3, 26-29.
c. The One who has been sown into us as a seed is the kingdom gene; the full development of this kingdom gene will be God’s eternal kingdom in the new heaven and new earth—Rev. 21:1-2.
3. After the seed has been sown into the believers, it will grow and develop within them into the kingdom of God, which is for the fulfillment of God’s eternal purpose and also for their blessing and enjoyment—Col. 1:13.
4. The development of the kingdom within us is our entering into the kingdom of God—2 Pet. 1:3-11:
a. In order to enter into the kingdom of God, we must humble ourselves and empty ourselves so that our entire inner being is available for Christ is grow in us—Mark 10:13-16; Eph. 3:16-17a.
b. Apparently, it is we who enter into the kingdom of God; actually, the entrance into the kingdom of God is supplied to us richly by the Lord through our growth in life and through the development of the divine life within us—2 Pet. 1:3-11.
c. We should be diligent to pursue the growth and development of the divine life within us until we are richly and bountifully supplied the entrance into “the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ”—vv. 5, 11.
Ministry Excerpts:
THE GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE SEED OF THE KINGDOM
The crucial matter revealed in chapter four of the Gospel of Mark is the kingdom seed or kingdom gene. The kingdom of God is not produced by activity or organization. The kingdom of God is actually God Himself sown into human beings and developing in them into a kingdom. We need to be impressed with the fact that the kingdom of God is not a matter of teaching, activity, or organization. On the contrary, the kingdom of God is the Triune God in His incarnation sown into His chosen people to grow and develop in them into a kingdom.
In this brief definition of the kingdom we have a statement of the intrinsic element of the entire teaching of the New Testament. What does the New Testament teach us? The New Testament teaches us that the Triune God has been incarnated in order to be sown into His chosen people and then develop within them into a kingdom. This is the intrinsic element of the New Testament teaching.
If we read the New Testament in this light, we shall see that the Triune God became a man. When this man, Jesus Christ, began to preach the gospel and teach the truth, He was sowing Himself into others. This means that His preaching of the gospel and His teaching of the truth were actually a sowing of Himself into those who heard Him. While He was preaching and teaching, He was sowing His word into His hearers. His word conveyed Himself into them. Hence, through His word He Himself as the God-man, the Triune God in humanity, was sown into His chosen people. Preaching and teaching were His way of sowing Himself as the seed of the kingdom. When God’s chosen people heard the word of this God-man and received it, they were actually receiving a wonderful Person, the One who is both the Triune God and a real man. This is what is recorded in the four Gospels.
The four Gospels reveal the Triune God incarnated. This God-man eventually came forth to sow Himself into God’s chosen people by preaching and teaching. When those who had been chosen by God heard His word and received it, they received the seed, the gene, of the kingdom. This seed, this gene, is the incarnated God, the Triune God in humanity. In the Gospels we have the sowing of this seed of the kingdom.
In the Acts we have the propagation and spreading of this sowing. In the Gospels we do have some spreading, first from one Sower to twelve sowers and then from twelve sowers to seventy sowers. But in Acts hundreds and even thousands of sowers were raised up. All these sowers were those who received the seed, the gene. By receiving the seed they became those who could then sow it into others. In this way we have the propagation of the sowing and of the seed.
In the Epistles we see the growing of the seed, the gene of the kingdom. We see this growth, in particular, in chapter three of 1 Corinthians. In 1 Corinthians 3:9b Paul says, “You are God’s farm.” Elsewhere in the same chapter Paul says, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God made to grow” (v. 6). Here in this chapter we have the growth, the development, of the seed.
Further development of the kingdom gene is seen in chapter one of 2 Peter. According to 2 Peter 1:3, God’s “divine power has granted to us all things which relate to life and godliness.” All things pertaining to the divine life have been given to us for the purpose of development. We have a description of this development in 2 Peter 1:5-7: “Supply bountifully in your faith virtue, and in virtue knowledge, and in knowledge self-control, and in self-control endurance, and in endurance godliness, and in godliness brotherly love, and in brotherly love love.” Here we have the steps of the development of the seed unto maturity. Peter indicates that if we have this development, “So shall be richly and bountifully supplied to you the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (v. 11). Hence, we clearly have in the Epistles the development of the seed of the kingdom.
The harvest of this seed is found in the last book of the New Testament, the book of Revelation. According to Revelation 14, we first have the firstfruit and then the harvest. Revelation 14:4 speaks of those who “were purchased from among men as firstfruit to God and to the Lamb.” Then in verse 15 we see that the “harvest of the earth is ripe.”
Our God is the everlasting God, the eternal One, and with Him there is no element of time. “One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Pet. 3:8). From God’s point of view, the thousand years of the millennium will simply be one day for Him to display His wonderful kingdom. But for Satan that display of the kingdom will last a thousand years. During that time Satan will be bound in the abyss.
At the end of the millennium, Satan will be released and allowed to rebel again. Concerning this, Revelation 20:7 and 8 say, “And when the thousand years are completed, Satan will be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog.” Although Satan will instigate rebellion among the nations, he will not be able to touch the co-kings, for they will have been transformed by the kingdom gene. All the rebellious element that is in the fallen humanity of these co-kings will have been swallowed up by the kingdom gene. Therefore, it will be impossible for Satan, the evil one, to instigate the “kingdom-gene people” to rebel against God. However, a large number of those in the restored nations will follow him. Revelation 20:9 tells us the outcome of this last rebellion: “And they went up over the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city; and fire came down out of heaven and devoured them.” Those of the restored nations who do not join in the rebellion will be transferred into the new earth.
In the new heaven and the new earth God will have an eternal kingdom with the New Jerusalem as the capital. The New Jerusalem will be a composition of kings, and these kings will rule over the fully restored nations. Then God will have an eternal kingdom as the full development of the gene sown in the Gospels by Jesus the Nazarene, who was the Triune God in humanity. How wonderful is the kingdom gene that was sown in the Gospels! Eventually this gene will develop into the millennial kingdom spoken of in Revelation 20 and into God’s eternal kingdom in Revelation 21 and 22. Praise the Lord for this picture of the kingdom gene and its development!
GROWTH AND TRANSFORMTAION IN THE CHURCH LIFE
Where does the church stand in this picture of the kingdom gene and its development and consummation? The churches are in the period of the development of the gene. This development takes place by growth and transformation. In the church life we are growing and being transformed. In 1 and 2 Corinthians Paul speaks of the growth and transformation we are experiencing today in the church life. In 1 Corinthians 3 we have the growth in life, and in 2 Corinthians 3 we have the transformation of life. In 1 Corinthians 3:7 Paul speaks of “the One who makes to grow, God.” Here we have the growth in life. Then in 2 Corinthians 3:18 Paul says, “And we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting as a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit.” Here we have the transformation of life. Therefore, in 1 and 2 Corinthians we have one chapter concerned with the growth in life and another chapter concerned with the transformation of life. Now in the church life we are experiencing this growth in life and transformation of life.
We have pointed out that the church is the continuation of the issue of the kingdom gene. This continuation eventually will reach the full development of the gene. Then the kingdom will be manifested during the millennium. All those who throughout the centuries have received the gene will become kings through the development of the gene within them. The totality of all these kings will be God’s eternal kingdom. Therefore, the eternal kingdom of God is the full development of the gene sown by the God-man, Jesus the Nazarene.
In the church life today we are experiencing the development of the gene of the kingdom through the growth in life and transformation of life. Eventually, this growth and transformation will reach its ultimate consummation. Then we shall all be co-kings with Christ, those who have experienced the full development of the kingdom gene.
In the church life today we are experiencing the development of the gene of the kingdom through the growth in life and transformation of life. Eventually, this growth and transformation will reach its ultimate consummation. Then we shall all be co-kings with Christ, those who have experienced the full development of the kingdom gene. At present, we are undergoing the process of development. But it is certain that one day we shall all be co-kings. When that day comes, we may look at one another and say, “Brother, do you remember those meetings in which we heard about the gene of the kingdom? When we were in the church life, we were undergoing the development of the gene. Now we are all here as co-kings of Christ. Now we can see the full development of the kingdom gene.” That full development of the kingdom gene will be an exhibition to the nations, to the angels, and to the Devil, Satan. We need to read chapter four of the Gospel of Mark in the light of what we have seen concerning the gene of the kingdom. If we read this chapter in this light, we shall realize that in Mark 4 we have the intrinsic element of the gospel.
In 4:1-8 the Lord tells the parable of the sower. In 4:11 He goes on to say to His disciples, “To you the mystery of the kingdom of God has been given, but to those outside, all things are in parables.” God’s economy concerning His kingdom was a hidden mystery, which has been unveiled to the disciples of the Slave-Savior. Yet, since the nature and character of the kingdom of God are wholly divine, and the elements through which it is brought forth are the divine life and the divine light, the kingdom of God, especially in its reality as the genuine church in this age (Rom. 14:17), is still all a mystery to the natural man.
THE PARABLE OF THE SEED
In Mark 4:26-29 we have the parable of the seed. Verse 26 says, “And He said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed on the earth.” The kingdom of God is the reality of the church brought forth by the resurrection life of Christ through the gospel (1 Cor. 4:15). Regeneration is its entrance (John 3:5), and the growth of the divine life within the believers is its development (2 Pet. 1:3-11).
The man in Mark 4:26 is the Slave-Savior as the Sower. The man in verse 26 is the sower in verse 3. This sower is the Slave-Savior, who was the Son of God coming to sow Himself as the seed of life in His word (v. 14) into men’s hearts so that He might grow and live in them and be expressed from within them.
The seed in verse 26 is the seed of the divine life (1 John 3:9; 1 Pet. 1:23) sown into the believers of the Slave-Savior. The casting of the seed here indicates that the kingdom of God, which is the issue and goal of the Slave-Savior’s gospel, and of the church in this age (Rom. 14:17), are a matter of life, the life of God, which sprouts, grows, bears fruit, matures, and produces a harvest. They are not a matter of lifeless organization through man’s wisdom and ability. The apostles’ words in 1 Corinthians 3:6-9 and Revelation 14:4, 15-16 confirm this.
Mark 4:27 goes on to say, “And sleep and rise night and day, and the seed sprouts and lengthens—how, he does not know.” The words “sleep and rise night and day” and “how, he does not know,” should not be applied to the Slave-Savior. This verse illustrates the spontaneity of the growth of the seed (v. 28). The word “lengthens” here indicates growth.
Verse 28 says, “The earth bears fruit by itself: first the blade, then an ear, then full grain in the ear.” The earth here is the good earth (v. 8) and signifies the good heart created by God (Gen. 1:31) for His divine life to grow in man. Such a good heart works together with the seed of the divine life sown into us to grow and bear fruit spontaneously for the expression of God. The word here enables us to have faith in this spontaneity. Thus, tares are not mentioned here, on the negative side, as in Matthew 13:24-30. The words “by itself” mean that the growth is spontaneous. Verse 29 concludes, “But when the fruit permits, immediately he sends forth the sickle, because the harvest has come.” The sickle signifies the angels sent by the Lord to reap the harvest (Rev. 14:16; Matt. 13:39). (Life-Study of the Gospel of Mark, msg. 15)