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Scripture Reading: Gen. 1:11-12, 29; Luke 8:5-8a, 11-15; Matt. 13:4-8, 19-24, 31, 33, 37-38, 44-46; 1 Cor. 3:6-12; 1 Pet. 1:23; James 1:18; Rev. 14:4b, 15
Thus far, we have covered three aspects of life: the tree of life, the river of life, and the breath of life. The tree of life is for eating, the river of life is for drinking, and the breath of life is for breathing. To maintain life we need air, water, and food. Air is the first item of importance in the maintenance of life, water is second, and food is third. A person can fast without eating or drinking but not without breathing. If we graduate from breathing, we graduate from life and die. We have seen that food comes from water, and water comes from the air. Thus, the air is the most basic item for maintaining life.
In this chapter we want to see the fourth aspect of life, the aspect of the seed of life. This aspect is much deeper than the other three aspects. We need to be those who know what life is. Many so-called Bible teachers cannot give any practical help in the matter of life because they themselves are not clear about what life is. They may have many teachings, but they have never been impressed with the things of life. The Bible shows us the tree of life, the river of life, the breath of life, and the seed of life. The tree is food to eat, the river is water to drink, the breath is air to breathe, and the seed is a container of life. The life essence, or germ, the begetting power of life, the growth of life, the transformation of life, and the resurrection life are all included in the seed of life. The word seed has an all-inclusive meaning since it is the embodiment of life and includes all things related to life.
We have seen that Genesis 1 is not merely a record of creation but a record absolutely of life. Genesis 1:11-12 tells us that the earth brought forth “herbs yielding seed,” and verse 29 refers to “every tree which has fruit that produces seed.” According to God’s original arrangement, He gave only the herb yielding seed and the tree producing seed to man for food. Anything that did not yield seed, God did not give to man for food. Whatever God gave to man for food before the fall was something yielding seed. This is because in God’s intention, in God’s economy, man should be taking in, receiving, and enjoying life all the time. Man should not eat, or take in, anything that does not yield seed. Whatever man touches, whatever man takes in, whatever man eats, must be something of life and something producing life — something yielding seed.
God has no intention for man to eat anything that is not of life. God has no intention for man to contact anything that does not yield seed. Whatever man contacts, whatever man takes into himself, whatever man eats for his maintenance, must be something yielding seed. Many books that we may read do not yield seed. But many of us who have read the book entitled The Economy of God can testify that it yields seed. According to Genesis, what man eats must be something yielding seed. Anything that does not yield seed, he should not eat. The tree of life is a tree yielding seed. In the seed, the main thing is life. The life essence, the life germ, is in the seed, and this life in the seed is for producing. We may also say that the life in the seed is for resurrection, for spreading, for transforming, and for growth. Life is in the seed, and the seed is food to us. In other words, life is in Christ, and Christ is food to us.
In both the Old and New Testaments the Lord Jesus has many titles. Among His many titles, He has the title of the seed. In Genesis 3:15 He is the seed of the woman who will bruise the head of the serpent. In 2 Samuel 7 He is the seed of David (v. 12). In Genesis 12 He is the seed of Abraham (v. 7). In the New Testament, Galatians 3 tells us that the seed of Abraham is the Lord Jesus (v. 16). Abraham had two sons, Ishmael and Isaac, but only one seed. Ishmael was a son of Abraham, but he was not the seed. Galatians 3 tells us that the unique seed of Abraham is Christ, of whom Isaac was a type. Isaac was a type of Christ as the seed of Abraham.
In the Gospels the Lord Jesus likened Himself to a sower sowing the seed. The seed is the word of God (Luke 8:11), the sons of the kingdom (Matt. 13:38), and Christ Himself (1 Pet. 1:23). The word of God is the embodiment of Christ. The word of God being the seed means that the seed is Christ. As the sons of the kingdom, we are also the seed. This means that we are the reproduction of Christ, the unique seed. In John 12:24 the Lord Jesus indicated that He was the unique grain, or seed, who fell into the earth and died. Through the death of the one grain of wheat, many grains are produced. The one grain is Jesus, and we are the many grains. Thus, we are the reproduction of Jesus because the many grains are the reproduction of the one grain. Human words are not adequate to explain the marvelous and deep mystery of the rich, all-inclusive seed of life. We must remember that the word of God, Christ, and we are the seed. We should not have the ambition to be merely Bible teachers, but we have to be seeds for the reproduction of life. The apostle Paul told the Corinthians that he was their father who begot them through the gospel (1 Cor. 4:15).
In 1 Corinthians the apostle Paul used three phrases to describe his relationship with them: I fed you (3:2, ASV), I planted (v. 6), and I have begotten you (4:15). Paul emphasized the fact that he had begotten the Corinthians and that he had planted and fed them. Paul was a father, a farmer, and a feeder. We need to be sowers and seeds in our locality. We have to sow ourselves into the church life in our locality. We have to be those who beget, plant, and feed others. We need to be the seeds with life in them for food. We should not be in our localities to pass on merely teachings or knowledge. We should be there as seeds with life in them, which are good for food to feed others. We need to plant ourselves, sow ourselves, as the seed in our localities. Then we will be fathers and farmers. We will be those who reproduce and bring forth life.
Matthew 13 and Luke 8 show us that the Lord came to sow the seed, which is Himself. After being sown into us, the seed of life needs to grow, and its growth needs our cooperation, our coordination. Our cooperation, or coordination, is to have a proper heart. The problem is not with the spirit but with the heart. The heart includes the conscience (Heb. 10:22), the mind (4:12), the emotion (John 16:20), and the will (Acts 11:23). If we are going to coordinate with the growth of the seed within us, we have to deal with our conscience, our mind, our emotion, and our will. If we do not deal with all the parts of our heart, it will be hard for the seed of life to grow within us. The Lord Jesus gave four illustrations of the kind of heart we might have: the wayside, the rocky places, the thorns, and the good earth (Matt. 13:4-8, 19-23; Luke 8:5-8a, 11-15).
The wayside is the outskirts, or the edge, of the field that is close to the way. Because it is so close to the way, it is easily hardened by the traffic of the way. Many unbelievers’ and believers’ hearts are hardened. The wayside signifies the heart that is hardened by worldly traffic. Our heart may be too close to the traffic of today’s world. The seed cannot penetrate such a heart hardened by worldly traffic. The seed can only fall on the surface where the birds, signifying the evil one, Satan, can come and snatch it away. Satan, the evil one in the air (Matt. 13:19), realizes that the seed cannot get into the heart that is like the wayside, so he comes to snatch away the seed. Before farmers sow seed, they generally till the soil to loosen it. But the wayside is hardened, so it is easy for the birds to snatch away the seeds. If our heart is the wayside, it is easy for Satan to come and snatch away the word that was sown in our heart.
The next type of soil is the soil with the rocky places. Matthew 13:5 tells us that this kind of soil lacks “depth of earth.” On the surface is the earth, and underneath are the rocks. Underneath the soil of our heart, there may be rocky places. The wayside is hard, but not as hard as rocks. On the surface our heart may appear to be soft, but underneath we may be hardened as rocks. The seed within us may grow and spring up, but it cannot root deep within us because of the rocky places. The ones with a shallow heart and with hidden rocks cannot stand against any temptation or persecution. The rocks may signify hidden sins, personal desires, self-seeking, and self-pity which frustrate the seed from gaining root in the depth of the heart. Luke 8:6 tells us that the seed which fell on the rock sprouted up but withered because it had no moisture. The shallow earth is easily dried up by the heat of the sun. If the earth is deep, the surface may dry up, but there will still be some moisture or water underneath that maintains the growth in life. We all have to go to the Lord and allow Him to examine us so that we may see how deep the earth is within us.
The thorns signify the anxiety of the age, the deceitfulness of riches, and the pleasures of this life that choke the seed (Matt. 13:22; Luke 8:14). These thorns choke the word from growing in the heart and cause it to become unfruitful.
A good heart is a heart that has been thoroughly tilled and is soft toward the Lord. It is a heart that is not hardened by worldly traffic, without hidden sins, without the anxiety of the age, the deceitfulness of riches, and the pleasures this of life. The wayside, the rocky places, and the thorns have to be dealt with thoroughly in order for us to have a good heart. The good heart is a heart with a pure and good conscience, with a considerate and sober mind, with an affectionate yet restricted emotion, and with a softened and flexible will. Such a heart gives every inch of its ground to receive the word that the word may grow, bear fruit, and produce even a hundredfold (Matt. 13:23).
In Matthew 13 the first three parables are parables concerning the seed. The first parable is the sower sowing the seed, the second parable is the sower sowing the good seed (vv. 24-30), and the third parable is the sower sowing the mustard seed (vv. 31-32).
The fourth parable is a parable concerning the produce of the seed — the fine flour (vv. 33-35). This parable tells us that a woman took leaven and hid it within the unleavened fine flour until all of it was leavened. Leaven in the Scripture signifies evil things (1 Cor. 5:6, 8) and evil doctrines (Matt. 16:6, 11-12). Fine flour, or the meal, for making the meal offering (Lev. 2:1), signifies Christ as food both to God and man. This woman typifies the Catholic Church, which took many pagan practices, heretical doctrines, and evil matters and mixed them with the teachings concerning Christ to leaven the whole content of Christianity.
The fifth parable is concerning the treasure hidden in the field, and the sixth parable is concerning the merchant who finds the one pearl of great value. The treasure hidden in the field must consist of gold or precious stones, the materials for the building of the church and the New Jerusalem (1 Cor. 3:12; Rev. 21:18-20). The pearl is also the material for the building up of the New Jerusalem (v. 21). Gold, pearl, and precious stones are the issue of the growth of the seed of life. Within the seed is the element of transformation. The issue of the tree of life in Genesis 2:9-12 is gold, pearl (bdellium), and precious stone (onyx stone).
In 1 Corinthians 3:6 Paul said, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the growth.” Then he proceeded to reveal that the church is “God’s cultivated land, God’s building” (v. 9), and that we need to build the church with gold, silver, and precious stones (v. 12). The gold, silver, and precious stones for God’s building come from the growth in life in God’s cultivated land. The church, the house of God, must be built with gold, silver, and precious stones, precious materials produced from Christ growing in us. As God’s cultivated land, we have Christ planted in us. Christ must also grow in us and out of us to produce the precious materials of gold, silver, and precious stones for the building of God’s habitation on the earth. Both in Matthew 13 and 1 Corinthians 3 there are the concepts of the seed of life, the growth in life, and the transformation in life. The seed of life is sown within us and grows in us to transform us into precious material for God’s building.
Peter tells us that we were regenerated of the incorruptible seed (1 Pet. 1:23). Then James tells us that we were brought forth to be the firstfruits of His creatures (1:18). He regenerated us to be the firstfruits of His new creation by imparting His divine life into our being through the implanted word of life (v. 21).
In Revelation 14 the firstfruits of the believers are raptured before the great tribulation (v. 4b), while the harvest of the believers, who are also raptured, occurs near the end of the great tribulation (v. 15). Out of this harvest come all the precious stones which are good for God’s building, the New Jerusalem. Eventually, from the cultivated land comes God’s building. We are God’s cultivated land and God’s building. In Genesis the seed of life is first mentioned, and in Revelation there is the harvest of the seed. In between Genesis and Revelation is the sowing of the seed, the growth of the seed, and the transformation in life from this growth. Thank the Lord for the seed of life.
