(3)
Scripture Reading: Mark 4:1-34
The Gospel of Mark gives us a record of the activities of the Slave-Savior. As we have pointed out, it is not the intention of this Gospel to give us a record of the Slave-Savior’s words or teaching. Of course, this Gospel does tell us that the Lord Jesus taught. However, Mark does not emphasize the Lord’s words.
Chapter four, which may be regarded as an insertion, differs from the rest of the Gospel of Mark in that it gives us a record of four of the Lord’s parables. In 4:1-34 we do not have a description of the activity or move of the Slave-Savior. Rather, in this chapter we have an account of the Slave-Savior’s teaching concerning the kingdom of God. This chapter, a chapter of teaching, is crucial.
If we compare chapter four of Mark with chapter thirteen of Matthew, we shall see that Mark 4 is much shorter than Matthew 13. In Matthew 13 we have seven parables, but in Mark 4 we have only four: the parable of the sower (vv. 1-20), the parable of the lamp (vv. 21-25), the parable of the seed (vv. 26-29), and the parable of the mustard seed (vv. 30-34). Of these four parables, only the parable of the lamp is not included in Matthew 13.
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.”
Those who are the firstfruit spoken of in Revelation 14 will be among those who will be co-kings with Christ in the millennium. The millennium, the thousand years, will be the full development of the gene of the kingdom. During the millennium many of those who have received the kingdom gene will be co-kings with Christ. At that time our Father might boast to His enemy, “Little Satan, where are you? You are in the abyss. I ask you, Satan, to look at My kingdom. I especially ask you to look at all those who are now co-kings with Christ. Many who have believed in My Son and received the gene of the kingdom have become co-kings with Him. My Son is the King, and all the overcoming believers are His co-kings. Satan, look at the King and the co-kings. What a wonderful kingdom this is!”
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!
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.
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.
In 4:21-25 we have the parable of the lamp. In verses 21 and 22 the Lord says, “Does the lamp come that it should be placed under the bushel or under the bed? Is it not that it should be placed on the lampstand? For nothing is hidden except that it may be manifested, nor has become concealed but that it should become manifest.” The lamp which shines light indicates that the Slave-Savior’s gospel service not only sows life into the people that He serves, but also brings light to them. Hence, such a divine service issues in the believers as luminaries (Phil. 2:15) and the churches as lampstands (Rev. 1:20), shining in this dark age as His testimony and consummating in the New Jerusalem with the outstanding characteristics of life and light (Rev. 22:1-2; 21:11, 23-24).
Mark 4:24 and 25 say, “And He said to them, Take heed what you hear. With what measure you measure, it will be measured to you, and it will be added to you. For he who has, it will be given to him; and he who has not, even what he has will be taken away from him.” In Matthew 7:2 and Luke 6:38 the Lord’s word about measuring is applied to the way we treat others. Here in Mark 4:24 it is applied to the way we hear the word of the Lord. How much can be given to us by the Lord depends upon the measure with which we hear. Likewise, the Lord’s word in verse 25 is also concerned with how we hear the word of the Lord. The same is true in Matthew 13:10-13 and Luke 8:18.
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).
In 4:30-34 we have the parable of the mustard seed. In verses 30 through 32 the Lord says, “How shall we liken the kingdom of God, or in what parable shall we put it? It is as a grain of mustard, which when it is sown on the earth is smaller than all the seeds on the earth, and when it is sown, it comes up and becomes greater than all the herbs, and produces great branches, so that the birds of heaven can roost under its shade.” The significance of the seed in verses 3 and 26 and the lamp in verse 21 is that it discloses the nature and inward reality of the kingdom of God. However, the significance of the mustard seed becoming great not after its kind, and the birds roosting under its shade, is that they speak of the corruption and outward appearance of the kingdom of God.
In Matthew 13:31 and 32 we see that the grain of mustard seed not only becomes greater than all the herbs, but eventually becomes a tree. The church, which is the embodiment of the kingdom, should be like an herb to produce food. But it became a tree, a lodge for birds, having its nature and function changed. (This is against the law of God’s creation that every plant must be after its kind — Gen. 1:11-12.) This happened when Constantine the Great mixed the church with the world in the first part of the fourth century. He brought thousands of false believers into Christianity, making it Christendom, no longer the church. Hence, the parable of the mustard seed corresponds to the third of the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3, the church in Pergamos (Rev. 2:12-17). The mustard is an annual herb, whereas the tree lives on year after year. The church, according to its heavenly and spiritual nature, should be like the mustard, sojourning on the earth. But with its nature changed, the church became deeply rooted and settled in the earth as a tree, flourishing with its enterprises as the branches to lodge many evil persons and things. This has formed the outward organization of the outward appearance of the kingdom of God.
In the parable of the sower, “the birds came and devoured” the seed that fell beside the way (Mark 4:4). According to verse 15, this indicates that Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown into certain ones. Since the birds in this parable signify the evil one, Satan, the “birds of heaven” in the parable of the mustard seed must refer to Satan’s evil spirits with the evil persons and things motivated by them. They lodge in the branches of the great tree, that is, in the enterprises of Christendom.
In 4:33 and 34 we have the conclusion of this section in the Gospel of Mark on the parables of the kingdom of God: “And in many such parables He spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear; and without a parable He did not speak to them, but privately to His own disciples He explained all things.” These parables displayed the Slave-Savior’s divine wisdom and knowledge (Matt. 13:34-35).
