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. (2006 WT, msg. 7)
II. God’s economy concerning His kingdom was a hidden mystery, which has been unveiled to the Lord’s disciples—Mark 4:11: (2006 WT, msg. 7)
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. (2006 WT, msg. 7)
B. Divine revelation is required to understand the kingdom of God—Eph. 1:17-18; 3:3; Rom. 16:25-26. (2006 WT, msg. 7)
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: (2006 WT, msg. 7)
A. God Himself is everything as the content of His kingdom—1 Cor. 4:20; 15:28. (2006 WT, msg. 7)
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. (2006 WT, msg. 7)
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. (2006 WT, msg. 7)
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. (2006 WT, msg. 7)
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: (2006 WT, msg. 7)
A. This is revealed in the parable of the seed in Mark 4:26-29: (2006 WT, msg. 7)
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. (2006 WT, msg. 7)
2. The seed is the seed of the divine life sown into the Lord’s believers—1 John 3:9; 1 Pet. 1:23. (2006 WT, msg. 7)
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. (2006 WT, msg. 7)
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. (2006 WT, msg. 7)
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. (2006 WT, msg. 7)
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. (2006 WT, msg. 7)
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: (2006 WT, msg. 7)
1. The kingdom of God is a wonderful person—the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God—Matt. 16:16. (2006 WT, msg. 7)
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: (2006 WT, msg. 7)
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. (2006 WT, msg. 7)
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. (2006 WT, msg. 7)
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. (2006 WT, msg. 7)
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. (2006 WT, msg. 7)
4. The development of the kingdom within us is our entering into the kingdom of God—2 Pet. 1:3-11: (2006 WT, msg. 7)
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. (2006 WT, msg. 7)
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. (2006 WT, msg. 7)
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. (2006 WT, msg. 7)