October
3, 2003
THE
SOWER SOWS THE WORD
"The
sower sows the word" (Mark 4:14, NKJV).
"Christ
came to sow the world with truth. Ever since the fall of man,
Satan has been sowing the seeds of error. It was by a lie
that he first gained control over men, and thus he still works
to overthrow God's kingdom in the earth and to bring men under
his power. A sower from a higher world, Christ came to sow
the seeds of truth. He who had stood in the councils of God,
who had dwelt in the innermost sanctuary of the Eternal, could
bring to men the pure principles of truth. Ever since the
fall of man, Christ had been the Revealer of truth to the
world. By Him the incorruptible seed, "the word of God,
which liveth and abideth forever," is communicated to
men (1 Peter 1:23). In that first promise spoken to our fallen
race in Eden, Christ was sowing the gospel seed. But it is
to His personal ministry among men and to the work which He
thus established that the parable of the sower especially
applies.
"The
word of God is the seed. Every seed has in itself a germinating
principle. In it the life of the plant is enfolded. So there
is life in God's word. Christ says, "The
words that I speak to you, they are Spirit, and they are life"
John 6:63). "He that heareth My
word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, has everlasting life"
(John 5:24). In every command and in every promise of the
word of God is the power, the very life of God, by which the
command may be fulfilled and the promise realized. He who
by faith receives the word is receiving the very life and
character of God...
"The
teachers of Israel were not sowing the seed of the word of
God. Christ's work as a teacher of truth was in marked contrast
to that of the rabbis of His time. They dwelt on traditions,
human theories and speculations. Often that which man had
taught and written about the word, they put in place of the
word itself. Their teaching had no power to quicken the soul.
The subject of Christ's teaching and preaching was the word
of God. He met questioners with a plain, 'It
is written.' 'What saith the Scriptures?' 'How readest thou?'
At every opportunity, when an interest was awakened by either
friend or foe, He sowed the seed of the word. He who is the
Way, the Truth, and the Life, Himself the living Word, points
to the Scriptures, saying, 'These are
they which testify of Me' (John 5:39). And 'beginning
at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded to them in all
the Scriptures the things concerning Himself' " (Luke
24:27).--Christ's Object Lessons, pp., 37-39.
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