The Sower Sows The Word

"The sower sows the word." (1)

"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. (2) 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." (3) "He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, has everlasting life." (4) 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.' (5) And 'beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.' (6)" (7)

1. Mark 4:14.
2. 1 Peter 1:23.
3. John 6:63.
4. John 5:24.
5. John 5:39.
6. Luke 24:27.
7. Christ's Object Lessons, pp., 37-39.