Jesus’ ministry was breaking barriers on all fronts and came in two stages. 1. Preaching. 2. Teaching. The teaching was usually done in the synagogue not outdoors by the seashore and so here we see teaching happening in a different place and in a different way, with the use of parables. This was something that was never done in the synagogues.
He taught and spoke in parables in a way that people could understand. This is a lesson all preachers and teachers need to learn, keep them simple. Jesus uses illustrations and leaves those listening to discover truth, if people were interested they would come back to ask for more details.
Notice that Jesus got into a boat, Mark 4:1, as He does often, Mark 3:9. There would have been a small rowing boat that would take the disciples further out to the main fishing boat which was larger. We see this happening later when is asleep on the boat, Mark 4:35-41.
The parable Jesus is about to speak, Mark 4:2, about is unusual in the fact that Jesus Himself explains the meaning of it. Can you imagine what a sight that must have been? What a pulpit that must have been to use, the Master teacher sitting on a boat because His following was so large. Jesus says, “Listen” and then goes on to share the parable with those listening.
Notice how Jesus starts the parable and how He ends the parable. He starts by saying, ‘Listen’, Mark 4:1, and ends by saying, ‘He, who has ears to hear, let him hear,’ Mark 4:9 / Luke 8:8 / Matthew 13:18. It didn’t just mean listen to what I’ve just said, it means to think about it, and paying attention to what I’ve just said. Although this is called ‘the parable of the sower’, the key to understanding this parable is understanding that the seed is the Word of God and so maybe it should be called ‘the parable of the soil’.
What is a parable? The word ‘Parable’ comes from the Greek word ‘Parabole’, which literally means a placing beside, a comparison, equivalent to or to compare. Some say that a parable is ‘an earthly story with a heavenly meaning’ but a parable is more than that. The dictionary defines a parable as ‘a short figurative story, designed to convey some truth or moral lesson.’ Or ‘a brief story using events or facts of everyday life to illustrate a moral or spiritual truth.’
But parables come in many different styles and forms. In Luke 4:22-23, we have an example of a parable in the form of a ‘Proverb’. Again in Luke 5:36-39, we find Jesus sharing a parable in the form of a ‘metaphor’ to the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law. And there are many other forms of parables that Jesus used too. But the point is that Jesus used parables as a form of teaching. It wasn’t the only form of teaching He used but it was certainly a form He liked to use a lot.
Throughout the Gospels there are over thirty parables of Jesus recorded in some style or another. Most of them are well known to many people but all of them are classics and Jesus was the Master teacher when it came to parables.
In this parable we find the folowing, which Jesus will explain later. We have a farmer who sowing seed, Mark 4:3 / Luke 8:5 / Matthew 13:3, and four different kinds of soil.
1. The first type is like hard-packed soil, Mark 4:4 / Luke 8:5 / Matthew 13:4.
These hard-hearted people do not let the word penetrate their life, they reject it immediately because they have closed their minds.
2. The second type is like seed sown in rocky places, Mark 4:5-6 / Luke 8:6 / Matthew 13:5-6.
The idea here is of a thin layer of topsoil covering a large rock. When the seed is sown in such a place, it will germinate and grow in the shallow soil, but it will not develop deep roots. When the sun comes out and it doesn’t rain for a few days, the plant will wither and die. This represents a person who eagerly receives the word, but doesn’t develop roots through faith and Bible study. This person will not have the ability to withstand the temptations and persecutions that come along in life.
3. The thorny soil, Mark 4:7 / Luke 8:7 / Matthew 13:7.
In this ground, the plant is overshadowed by taller weeds which suffocate fruit production. This soil symbolizes people who receive the word and although they allow it to continue in their lives, permit competing interests to dwarf it. These other influences may not be bad things in themselves, but they dominate the person’s life so much that the seed can’t bear fruit.
4. The good soil, Mark 4:8 / Luke 8:8 / Matthew 13:8.
This is the good soil in which plants bear abundant fruit. This soil represents Christians who are diligent in the service of God.
The seed fell on three different places, without any lasting success. 1. On the path. 2. On rocky ground. 3. On rocky places. 4. On the thorny ground. However, some of the seed fell on good ground. The seed fell onto different types of ground and the harvest depended on the kind of soil where the seed fell.
Its clear that His disciples and others didn’t understand the parable, Mark 4:10 / Mark 4:13 / Mark 4:33-34 / Luke 8:9 / Matthew 13:10, and so, Jesus said He speaks in parables so that He can reveal secrets about the kingdom of heaven, Mark 4:11 / Luke 8:10.
Why did Jesus speak in parables? Mark 4:10-13 / Luke 8:4-7 / Matthew 13:3-8. His parables were designed to test His hearers, not an intelligence test but rather a spiritual responsiveness test. Jesus shares the parable with the people and says, ‘Do you want to know a secret?’ ‘I’ve shared a secret with you about the kingdom of heaven,’ Mark 4:11 / Luke 8:10 / Matthew 13:11.
And the parable He shared did exactly what the parable was designed to do. They were designed to get a response, Mark 4:10-12 / Luke 8:9-10 / Matthew 13:13-15. It split the people into two groups, those who were interested in truth and those who weren’t, Mark 4:12 / Luke 8:10 / Matthew 13:13-15 / Isaiah 6:9-10.
Morgan, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Jesus didn’t use parables to blind people, but because they were blind. ‘Therefore Jesus used the parabolic method, not in order to blind them, but in order to make them look again; not in order to prevent them from coming to forgiveness, but in order to lure them toward a new attention.’
Jesus is saying ‘My people can see and perceive, My people can hear and understand but they just don’t want to,’ Mark 4:12 / Luke 8:10 / Matthew 13:13-15 / Isaiah 6:9-10. He’s saying they don’t want to turn to God and be forgiven because their hearts are so far away from Me. He says My people have always seen, they’ve always heard but My people don’t want to listen and understand, because they are too stubborn, Isaiah 29:13.
A couple of chapters later in Mark’s Gospel, Jesus says that the religious people were hypocrites who were more interested in the traditions of men rather than the commands of God, Mark 7:6-8. And it’s then, that Jesus asks those who are listening, if they can’t understand this parable, how will they understand any other parable that He will share, Mark 4:13.
Jesus is saying this secret about the kingdom of heaven is so easy to understand, Mark 4:11 / Luke 8:10 / Matthew 13:13-15. He says it’s so plain and obvious and yet none of you can understand it! He’s telling them that they need to be able to understand this parable so that they can go on and understand other parables He will teach them.
It’s much the same as what Paul says to the church in Corinth, 1 Corinthians 3:1-2. The great call of Scripture is for growth, for us to grow spiritually. The minute we were born again in the waters of baptism, John 3:3 / Acts 2:38, we should be starting to grow spiritually. And the more we study the Word of God, the more we understand and grow, but we need to grow, 2 Peter 3:18.
A lot of kids in the world today are born with a disease that stops them from growing both physically and mentally. But sadly, the same goes for some Christians, not physically or mentally but spiritually, Hebrews 5:11-14. Notice how the Hebrew writer describes how we become mature, “By constant use and training”.
Studying isn’t easy sometimes, but it’s something that all Christians need to do, they need to train themselves to do it. The desire for understanding the Bible will drive us forward to understand even more of the Bible. That’s what Jesus’ disciples did, they wanted to understand more and so, Jesus gave them even more solid food, Matthew 5:6 / Luke 24:27.
So we find that these few people who were listening to Jesus didn’t understand what the parable of The Sower meant, but they had the desire to know and so Jesus explains it to them. He says, ‘Here’s a secret about the kingdom of God’, Mark 4:11 / Luke 8:10 / Matthew 13:13-15. Matthew records in Matthew 13:16-17, that the disciples were blessed because they used their eyes to see and their ears to hear, that is, they were open to Jesus’ teaching and as a result were blessed, Matthew 16:17 / John 20:29.
Many of the Old Testament prophets and righteous people who lived by faith longed to see what the disciples were now seeing, they longed to hear the teachings Christ was teaching His disciples. In other words, they longed to hear the wonderful things which Jesus was revealing to His disciples, John 8:56 / Galatians 4:4-5 / Hebrews 11:13 / Hebrews 11:25-26 / Hebrews 11:39-40 / 1 Peter 1:10-12.
Jesus taught and explained the parable using an everyday life event, He uses the illustration of a farmer sowing his seed. Have you ever wondered why some people become Christians and then a little later they fall away? Have you ever wondered why some people aren’t Christians?
We have people who come into our assemblies, they hear the Gospel of Christ being preached, they know what they need to do to become obedient to the Gospel, and yet, nothing ever seems to happen. How come we don’t get people coming to Christ when the Gospel is preached as it was during Biblical times? Well, maybe the best way to answer that question is by letting Jesus ask the question He was asking. How could the scribes and Pharisees misrepresent God the way they did? Mark 4:12 / Luke 8:10 / Matthew 13:13-15 / Isaiah 6:9-10.
How could the disciples and those listening not totally understand what Jesus was teaching? The way the Word is being sown or being preached isn’t the problem, the problem is the way people receive it. In other words, those people who are honestly searching for the truth, it’s those people whom the truth will become much clearer.
We need to remember whom the Word of God is being preached to, it’s being preached to sinners. People whose hearts have been hardened with sin over the years. Jesus says that people are like the place where the seed lands, Mark 4:3-8 / Luke 8:5-8 / Matthew 13:3-8. He’s talking about four different soils, which represent four different reactions or responses when people hear the Word of God, Mark 4:14 / Luke 8:11 / Matthew 4:19.
1. Jesus said that the birds mentioned in Mark 4:4 / Luke 8:5 / Matthew 13:4, are a picture of the devil himself, who comes down and takes the seed away, Mark 4:15 / Luke 8:12 / Matthew 13:19.
But the reason the devil can so easily take it away is because the Word of God has no impression on these people at all. They’re so hardened in sin, they don’t even understand the significance of the words being said. In other words, the path is hard, Mark 4:4 / Luke 8:5 / Matthew 13:4, the seed has got nowhere to plant its roots, Jeremiah 4:3 / Hosea 10:12. They hear the Gospel but don’t hang around long enough to find out what it means to them. Because when people are hardened with sin, they always think that whatever’s being said doesn’t apply to them.
2. Jesus goes on to describe another reaction to the Gospel.
People who hear the Word of God, accept it with gladness and joy, Mark 4:5 / Luke 8:6 / Matthew 13:5, but they have no root in themselves, Mark 4:16-17 / Luke 8:13 / Matthew 13:20. Jesus says these people are OK for a while but as soon as any persecution or worry comes along from being a follower of God, they just give up.
So the Word that was planted in them at the start, just springs up very quickly but the soil was lacking, Mark 4:5 / Luke 8:6 / Matthew 13:5. And so when the sun comes out, it’s quickly burnt up because it has no root and lacks moisture, Mark 4:5 / Luke 8:6 / Matthew 13:5. Jesus is saying there are hearts out there that will receive the truth with great readiness and joy, Mark 4:16 / Luke 8:13 / Matthew 13:20. And He says it’s not until the heat gets turned up, that these people fall away.
Spurgeon, in his commentary, says the folowing.
‘Then there are many more, whose religion must be sustained by enthusiastic surroundings. They seem to have been baptized in boiling water; and unless the temperature around them is kept up to that point, they wither away, the religion that is born of mere excitement will die when the excitement is over.’
It worries me when people become Christians without even studying the Word of God first. People need to know and understand Who and what they are committing to, Luke 14:26-35. Jesus says whenever the heat of tribulation or persecution comes along because of the Word of God, their delight in the truth just withers away and dries up.
3. Jesus goes on to describe another type of response to the Gospel.
In the case of the seed that fell among the thorns, Mark 4:4 / Mark 4:18-19 / Luke 8:7 / Luke 8:14 / Matthew 13:7 / Matthew 13:22, we must note that there was nothing wrong with the soil. It’s not too hard like the seed that fell along the path, there’s enough soil for the seed to take root, unlike the seed that fell on a rocky place.
It’s not the soil that’s the problem, it’s what is in the soil around it. It’s the environment in which it’s living is the problem. One of the ways that Satan likes to attack God’s people is with worry, worry is the greatest joy stealer there is.
Jesus says there are three things that steal our joy as a Christian. He says there are three things that can stop us from becoming a fruitful follower of the Word.
1. The cares of this world, Mark 4:19 / Luke 8:14 / Matthew 13:22.
People are so caught up in this life that they forget about the next. They worry about their jobs, they worry about their homes, and they worry about having enough money to get by.
Jesus says we shouldn’t be getting distracted by anything, He’ll take care of all your worries, Matthew 6:25-34 / Matthew 6:33. He says, listen, we’re Christians, we don’t need to worry about these things, 1 Peter 5:7, just leave the worrying to the unbelievers.
2. The deceitfulness of riches, Mark 4:19 / Luke 8:14 / Matthew 13:22.
The world’s biggest con these days is this, ‘get rich fast and you’ll be happy’. Whether that comes in the form of a new car or a new home, it doesn’t matter. I don’t know if you have noticed, but over the past few years, the ‘National Lottery’ has now got even more chances for you to win every day of the week. They now have a daily ‘National Lottery’ draw.
And that’s because they realise that in a world that’s so commercial, people are lusting after the quick fix answer to their problems or a get me rich fast answer to your problems. But Jesus tells us that, that’s not the fruit of the Spirit, Galatians 5:22-23. He says that those riches are the fruit of the world. He says people are being deceived into thinking that material goods are the answer to life.
The only answer to this life is Jesus Christ Himself and if we want answers about this life then we need to look to Jesus, John 14:6. Because He’s the only one who has the answers for this life.
3. The pleasures of this life, Mark 4:19 / Luke 8:14 / Matthew 13:22.
Everyone likes to have fun and there’s nothing wrong with that but the problem comes when the fun becomes more important than godly living. There’s nothing wrong with playing cards but the problem comes when we start gambling and our gambling habit takes over our life.
There’s nothing wrong with having a drink, but the problem comes when the drink comes more important than God himself. God has given us the gift of pleasure, which in itself can be innocent. But we need to remember that the world’s idea of enjoyment is totally opposite to God’s idea of enjoyment.
These three things or these three thorns, that we have just mentioned are constantly in the environment that we live in every day. And what they do is smother and choke the Word of God, Mark 4:18-19 / Luke 8:14 / Matthew 13:22. And Jesus says, the reason that these people don’t bear any fruit is because of these thorns.
He says, they look promising, they look like they’re going to bear fruit but they never do and so they end up choking to death. He says the thorns soak up all the moisture and riches that are in the soil and so the world ends up with all their attention and God just gets the dregs of whatever is left, Matthew 22:37. They are starved of the truth, which is found in the word of God.
4. Jesus speaks about the good soil, Mark 4:8 / Mark 4:19-20 / Luke 8:8 / Luke 8:15 / Matthew 13:8 / Matthew 13:23.
Jesus says, ‘this is the soil I’m looking for, this is the kind of response to My words that I’m looking for.’ This soil is the total opposite from the three other soils mentioned. These are the people whose hearts are soft and tender, they received and cherished the seed, when it was planted.
These people soak up the Word of God and gain strength from it and go on to produce a crop of ‘thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown,’ Mark 4:20 / Luke 8:15 / Matthew 13:23. These are the people who plant good seed in people’s hearts and are rewarded with a good crop, that is a good number of people responding to the Gospel message, 1 Corinthians 3:6.
They can see the world’s riches for what they really are, they guard themselves against worldly pleasures, Proverbs 21:17. And they cast all their anxieties onto Him because they know He cares for them, 1 Peter 5:7. They produce much fruit and it’s these people who are the long-distance faith runners, who are faithful to the end.
And it’s to those people who Jesus says, ‘Do you want to know a secret?’ Mark 4:11 / Luke 8:10 / Matthew 13:11. Don’t be surprised when people don’t want to hear about Me. Don’t be surprised when people become Christians and only last a short time. Don’t be surprised when people look like they’re going to be great ambassadors for Christ but they fall away.
Everyone has a place in the parable of the sower. Jesus wants us to evaluate which type of soil we are.
1. Hopefully, we won’t be the hardened, wayside soil.
If we are, we will close our minds to the truth and refuse to allow the Gospel to penetrate our hearts and change our life.
2. Perhaps we’ll be the rocky soil.
On the surface, we appear to be growing and serving the Lord enthusiastically. But we aren’t deepening our roots through faith, study and a deeper personal relationship with Jesus Christ. When times become tough, we will fall away, and others will marvel because on the surface it looked like we were doing so well.
3. If we end up being the thorny soil, we will continue to ‘be a Christian,’ but our life will be dominated by other activities and we will never have much time or attention to share with spiritual concerns.
This is probably the most subtle danger because the plant in thorny soil never completely falls away. As a result, we can soothe our conscience and believe that we are still doing OK, when in fact, we aren’t bearing fruit.
4. Ideally, we will be the good soil that bears the fruit of righteousness for the Lord.
God’s Word doesn’t vary but man’s heart does. The nature of the response is dictated by the nature of the heart that receives it. The secret is this, don’t give up planting the seed, but persevere, Galatians 6:9. We never know what kind of response you’re going to get.
Jesus explained that the seed represents the word of God, Luke 8:11. There are many lessons that can be learned by the analogy between seed and the word. For example, a seed always produces after its kind. That is, rice seed always produces rice plants, corn seed produces corn plants and pumpkin seed pumpkin plants. There are no exceptions.
By the plant results, one can determine what seed was planted. So it is in the spiritual realm. When the pure word of God is planted, the resulting plants are Christians. It would be theoretically possible to eliminate pumpkin plants from the face of the earth. Yet if pumpkin seeds were preserved, someone many years later could plant them, and again produce pumpkins. So also in Christ. The seed is the word of God, 1 Peter 1:23-25.
Even if there had not been servants of Christ on the earth for a long time, when people returned to following the Bible only, they would become Christians. Our goal should be to reproduce pure disciples of Christ in the twentieth century, just like they were in the first.
The biggest mistake we can make as Christians after studying this is to look around us and say, ‘Yes, I know people who fall into one of those categories’. ‘I know someone who didn’t last long as a Christian’, that’s not the point of the parable. The point of the parable is to get you to look at yourself, is your heartfelt response to the Gospel described in this parable?
And let me just say that it would be very foolish for anyone to stand and say, ‘Yes, when the seed fell on me, it fell on the good soil.’ Because you can’t answer that question until the day Jesus returns or the day you die, 1 Corinthians 10:12. Let’s not judge each other with this parable. But let’s continue to encourage each other to remain faithful to the end and trust in God to help us produce the fruit He requires.
Mark isn’t the only one who recorded this teaching of Christ, Mark does too, Luke 4:16-18. Jesus had just emphasised the concealment of His teachings using parables, Mark 4:11-12, but this reference to the lamp shows that the concealment will end.
Our Lord has just been speaking the Parable of the Sower and the disciples ask Him for an explanation, which He gives point by point. I’m pretty sure the disciples were feeling pretty good about themselves after hearing Him tell them that He was hiding His truth from the masses while privately helping them to understand it, Mark 4:11 / Luke 8:10 / Matthew 11:16-17. ‘Inside information’ can be a powerful thing, but it can also be dangerous, 1 Corinthians 8:1, more importantly, knowledge brings with it responsibility, and this is what Jesus is dealing with in these verses.
Jesus is talking to His disciples, and it’s an everyday illustration He uses. Night is coming and the small house is in getting dark, and then the master of the house takes and trims the lamp and brings it in. What do we do with the lamp? Does we put it under a bowl, which would hide the light? Matthew 5:15. Do we hide it under the bed, which would dim the light? Mark 4:21 / Luke 8:16. Or do we put it on the lampstand, which would display the light for all? Mark 4:21 / Luke 8:16 / Matthew 5:15. We could do any of these, but the real purpose is to light the house.
It is very important that we understand what Jesus is saying here. Jesus is the light, John 8:12, and His word of the kingdom is light. And because Jesus is the Word, John 1:1 / John 1:14, I think we can safely say that the lamp here is the Word of God, just like the seed in the previous parable, Psalm 119:105. Jesus is saying you don’t take a lamp and light it and put it under the bed or put it under a bowl. The whole purpose of having the lamp is to put it on the lampstand and let it shine. He’s saying that God hasn’t revealed to them these incredible truths about Himself in order for them to hide them, Mark 4:22 / Luke 8:17.
Just as natural light illuminates the darkness and enables us to see visually, so the light of Christ shines in the hearts of believers and enables us to see the heavenly reality of God’s kingdom. In fact, our mission is to be light-bearers of Christ so that others may see the truth of the Gospel and be freed from the blindness of sin and deception.
The whole purpose of a lamp is simply to produce light and so obviously it’s always placed in a position which helps it accomplish its purpose. In other words, placing a lamp under a bowl or under a bed defeats the purpose of the lamp in the first place. They exist simply to bring light, in this case, light to men.
Jesus taught and warned against hiding a lit lamp on many occasions but notice how many different places He mentions where a lit lamp shouldn’t be put in a jar, under a bed, Luke 8:16, under a bowl, Mark 4:21 / Matthew 5:15, in a cellar, Luke 11:33. It’s clear that Jesus is making an application to the Parable of the Sower, Mark 4:1-20 / Luke 8:1-15 / Matthew 13:1-22, and He’s saying that the preaching of the Gospel will bring to light the true nature of the hearts of everyone who hears it, Mark 4:23 / Luke 8:18.
Some commentators believe there is a connection between the things which hide the light and the thorns which choke out the word. They believe that the clay jar stands for the worries of this world. The bowl stands for wealth, and the bed and a place, which is the cellar, stand for desires.
According to all those references the lamp shouldn’t be hidden but placed on a stand, but who or what is the stand? The lamp which is lit is the Christian and their lamp should be displayed on the stand, which is in the church, Revelation 1:20. But we’ve not just to be lights in our meeting place, we need to be lights of the world, Matthew 5:14-16.
The purpose of light is to reveal everything which is present in the house. It’s the light that both enlightens and brings to light, John 3:17-18 / John 5:34 / John 6:40 / John 12:48. Those who hear will be revealed to have open hearts and those who reject the word of God will be revealed to have hardened hearts.
The secrets of all people shall be made evident on judgement day. People must understand and respond to what they hear, they must be like the good soil that grew and produced a multiplying crop, Mark 4:8 / Mark 4:19-20 / Luke 8:8 / Luke 8:15 / Matthew 13:8 / Matthew 13:23.
Where does the moon get it’s light from? How does it shine? The moon doesn’t give off any light in and of itself, it simply reflects the light from the sun. We know that Jesus is the light of the world, John 8:12, and as Christians, our light is a reflection of His light, Matthew 15:16 / John 1:4-5.
Jesus Christ is the light and He revealed God and made Him known. He brought the character and the truth of God to all who believed in Him, John 1:9. It’s through Jesus Christ that the true knowledge of God is made known. He brought the light and revealed the character and person of God. Jesus, Himself is the light of the world, John 8:12.
Christians don’t produce the light, but like the moon that reflects the light of the sun, we too reflect the light of His indwelling life, Revelation 21:23. Christians are supposed to display the character of God, that’s why we were called in the first place, 1 Peter 2:9 / Ephesians 5:8.
While Christians are light, the world is darkness. This is the term used to describe the lost condition. John tells us that there is no darkness in God, 1 John 1:5, which means that there is no sin, no moral question marks, and no blame in even the slightest degree. He uses the word ‘darkness’ as an alternative word for the world and the unregenerate condition, 1 John 2:8-9. Our Lord uses the same word to describe the whole world in rebellion against God, John 3:19. His saving work is the only way to be delivered from this darkness. John 12:46.
What does darkness do? Darkness impairs vision, we can’t see clearly. In a spiritual sense, the kind of darkness that the Bible speaks of impairs a person morally. They cannot see, they don’t understand the effects of sin or even the root of it in the corruption of the human heart.
Their entire way of thinking is warped by the darkness. Their understanding has been switched off when it comes to grasping moral issues related to his own life. But Christians are the light, and our purpose is to make God known. If an unbeliever comes in contact with us, they ought to see in our lives the reflection of the character of God. They ought to hear from our lips truth and that which is good. We are to be proclaiming the truth of His salvation, Mark 4:24-25 / Luke 8:18.
Inherent in the purpose of a lamp is that it produces light. It’s therefore placed in a position to accomplish its purpose. Lamps exist for the very purpose of bringing light to men, Matthew 5:15-16. The function of light is to reveal that which is present in the house. There is nothing hidden that will not be manifested. In reference to the preceding parable of the sower, the preaching of the Gospel will bring to light the true nature of the hearts of everyone who hears it.
It’s the light that both enlightens and brings to light, John 3:17-18 / John 5:34 / John 6:40 / John 12:48. Those who hear will be revealed to have open hearts. Those who reject the word of God will be revealed to have hardened hearts. They must understand and respond to what they hear. They must be as the good soil, Mark 4:8, that brought forth abundantly.
Jesus has just finished saying, ‘if anyone has ears to hear, let him hear,’ Mark 4:23, then He goes on and warns His disciples to take great care with how they listen, Mark 4:24 / Luke 8:18. We have to remember that the Gospel is so precious, because the Gospel contains the message of eternal life and the message of eternal death, depending on how a person responds to it.
The words, ‘it will be measured to you,’ Mark 4:24, mean those who are of a humble nature are receptive to the teachings of Jesus. They hear with the intention of producing. As a result of their willingness to hear, they will grow. To the ones who grow, therefore, more will be given, Mark 4:24-25 / Luke 8:18, in the sense that the righteous will receive far more in eternal glory than they expect, Romans 8:18.
The words, ‘whoever does not have,’ Mark 4:25 / Luke 8:18, mean those who aren’t of the nature of the good soil will not produce. They will thus not receive the bounty of more. That which unrighteous hearts possess will be lost in the final reckoning of all things. Their good works will be in vain because they aren’t in Christ, 1 Corinthians 15:58. The unrighteous will lose whatever they had. These measures are the kind of judgments people give of others, resulting always in their being judged in the same fashion, Matthew 7:1-2 / Luke 6:37-38.
If people listen to the Gospel carelessly, then they will find that they don’t have what it takes to remain faithful unto death, Revelation 2:10. If we take the Gospel lightly, even what little we have gained will be taken from us. But if we receive the whole Gospel and obey it, then we will gain more than we can imagine.
And so, Jesus is saying, the more the Christian studies God’s Word, the more they will learn as it’s revealed to them through His Word but those Christians who don’t study God’s Word, will not learn anything new and what they do already know will be taken away from them.
We see this in action when Jesus shares the Parable of the Talents, where the one-talent man buried his talent, instead of putting it to good use, then it was taken from him and given to the man who had ten talents, Matthew 25:19-28.
The Christian needs to shine whenever they find themselves, they need to continually grow, through studying God’s Word, 2 Peter 3:18. The Bible is a light, but it’s useless if it remains closed on the bookshelf. In order to receive profit, we must open it up and read it. Although studying the Scriptures is essential, many read the Bible in vain, because they don’t read it correctly.
It’s significant that in the middle of a text stressing the importance of hearing the word, Jesus emphasised the need to be careful how we hear, Mark 4:24 / Luke 8:16. The fact that people who read the Bible come to markedly different conclusions about what it means demonstrates that many are not understanding it properly. Some are careless and simply don’t put much effort into their study. Others twist the Scriptures intentionally, misinterpreting them to try to confirm the beliefs and practices they have already determined to follow.
Some common-sense principles can help us understand the Scriptures as we study. First, learn to study in context. The Bible has two main divisions. The Old Testament, the first thirty-nine books, and the New Testament, the last twenty-seven books. The New Testament is the part that directly relates to us today since it contains the teachings of Christ and the apostles. The Old Testament gives the background of God’s preparation of the Jewish nation for the coming of Christ.
These Testaments are subdivided into books, sixty-six in all. It is probably best to study book by book. This study was designed to take a person through the gospel of Mark step-by-step. We need to concentrate on what we read in the Bible to be able to understand it. Since each book is divided into chapters, it is helpful to approach our Bible study by working with a chapter at a time. Read through the chapter two or three times.
On the first reading, work to simply discover what the chapter contains, but on the second reading, we can begin to try to analyse the main points. Keep a notebook handy. Jot down a note or two about the main ideas or events of the chapter. A notebook is a good place to write down questions that arise as we study. Writing them down so that we won’t forget them allows us to progress in our study without getting side-tracked. Later, we can search for the answers to these questions ourself, or we can ask someone else to help us.
This parable is only found in Mark’s Gospel and it’s a parable that’s closely related to ‘The parable of the Sower’ which is found in Mark 4:1-20.
The word ‘kingdom’, Mark 4:26, literally means ‘reign or rule’ and the idea of the kingdom has its roots way back in the Old Testament. From the beginning, the people of Israel are described as being unique and a chosen people of God, Exodus 19:6. They are the recipients of His special favour and God Himself is their King.
The people wanted Gideon to rule over them and be their king but he tells them that God Himself will be their leader and He will rule over them, Judges 8:22-23. If you have a kingdom, you need a king to rule over that kingdom. And in 1 Samuel 8, we find that God’s people are looking for a physical king, 1 Samuel 8:5, but Samuel wasn’t very impressed with this, so he prayed to God.
In other words, they already had a King, God was their King, so the Israelites weren’t rejecting Samuel, they were rejecting God Himself, 1 Samuel 8:7. But even though they rejected God, God gave them a king, King Saul, 1 Samuel 9, but as time went on, those who were wise, recognised that there was no other authority except God’s authority, Psalm 103:19.
And it was during the days of David and Solomon that the Israelite’s kingdom reached its peak, but as we know, even this was short-lived. And so they lost their kingdom because they rejected their true King and His commands, and they ended up in captivity.
It’s during this time in captivity that the prophet Jeremiah gets a word from the Lord, Jeremiah 30:8-9, as does Daniel, Daniel 2:44. In other words, God was saying that there was a time coming when He would reaffirm His Kingly reign and restore to His honour the people called by His name.
After John the baptiser was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the Good News of God, Mark 1:15. Jesus said a little later, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God come with power,’ Mark 9:1.
Did that time come? I believe it did. In the Book of Acts, we find people being added into that kingdom, Acts 2:47. And remember we’re dealing with a spiritual kingdom here, not a physical one.
The first thing we need to notice is that the kingdom isn’t something that sprung up in a moment, Mark 4:26-29. It was planned, it was prepared for and brought into being in the past and even now awaits its final consummation. In other words, it started its life in the mind of God, it was spoken of by the Old Testament prophets as we looked at a moment ago.
Jesus said it was near, Matthew 4:17 / Mark 9:1, and in Acts 2, the spiritual kingdom was established. And if you’re a Christian today then you can be sure that you’re part of that kingdom today, Colossians 1:13-14 / Hebrews 12:28-29.
In other words, we’re in that kingdom now, 2 Peter 1:10-11. Just as a side note whenever the Bible talks about the kingdom in the future tense, it’s talking about heaven itself. This is the central truth taught in this parable. The kingdom spreads all over the world. And that’s what we’re going to look at, the growth of this spiritual kingdom.
Jesus said that the kingdom of God was like a farmer who then planted a seed, Mark 4:26. That night he went to bed, the next morning, he got up and tended to other responsibilities, Mark 4:27. Meanwhile, the seed germinated, began to grow and finally bore fruit, Mark 4:28-29.
We’re not mistakes of God, we’re not fellow mistakes with Christ and we’re certainly not mistakes of God’s kingdom. In fact, we’re a part of the kingdom which God spoke about way back in Old Testament times. So before we get into the meaning of the parable I would like to say a few words about this kingdom.
I want to share with you four points about kingdom growth.
1. The kingdom growth is gradual.
In the production of grain, nature works step by step, in other words, there’s a step-by-step process by which it grows. And nearly all of its marvels are formed gradually. And those of you who are gardeners will plant a seed in the ground and after a while, you will see the results of that growth. But the actual process of growth is barely visible, and it’s the same with the kingdom of God, Mark 4:28. And if we were to apply this parable to an individual person, we would get a lesson in patience.
Christian growth is gradual. When a baby is born, they don’t walk and talk straight away, they have to be encouraged to walk and talk. And the more they try, the more confident they get at it, it’s the same with baby Christians. We shouldn’t expect them to be able to preach a sermon or teach a lesson in a lady’s class straight after their baptism.
They need time to learn the simple things about Christianity. Things like learning how to pray, and learning how to read and study God’s Word by themselves. And when we think about it, if it’s possible to expect too little of ourselves, it also must be possible that we expect too much of ourselves. And so in our moral and spiritual development, we want to take giant steps. And if we fail, we end up being so disappointed in ourselves, that we need to learn to walk before we can run. The mature Christians among us should never forget nature’s lesson, and that’s the necessity of gradual growth.
People have come up with hundreds of ways to get people into their congregations. They have got plans on how to get people to become Christians. Some use musical instruments to attract people into becoming Christians, some say, ‘look how spiritual I am, I speak in so-called tongues’. But we need to remember that a person doesn’t go to bed as a sinner and wakes up the next morning as a Christian. It doesn’t happen like that, we need to be patient and we need to trust God. We need to let young Christians develop gradually and we need to trust God to add people to His kingdom, Acts 5:14.
2. The kingdom’s growth is orderly.
When the seed is sown and buried in the soil, its very existence seems to be threatened but the seed’s growth is marked by an orderly development, Mark 4:26-27. In other words, just as we go through different stages in our physical growth, it’s the same with kingdom growth.
When kids are born, they go through the teething process, then they grow a little more and go through the terrible two’s, three’s, four’s and five’s. And then they start to go through the rebellious stage, which starts at age six and goes on until they are eighteen years old. And in between all of that, they go through what we call puberty, which is another fun part of growing up. But most people grow in the same order, infancy, childhood, youth and manhood. And it’s almost impossible to tell when one period ends and another period begins. But at the same time, the different stages of development can be clearly recognised.
It is the same with the Christian development, Peter says that recent converts to Christianity are like new-born babies, 1 Peter 2:1-3. But sadly, we also get Christians who aren’t young but haven’t grown out of the baby stage yet, 1 Corinthians 3:1-4. And then we get other Christians who are growing up and maturing, Matthew 5:48 / 1 Corinthians 14:20. In other words, there are different stages of Christian growth that we all need to be aware of.
A young Christian may do and say things that aren’t very mature because of a lack of knowledge and understanding. But those who are mature should recognise this and give them a helping hand in their understanding.
Have you ever wondered why some Christians do nothing but complain and grumble all the time? I believe that one of the reasons they complain and grumble all the time is that they haven’t grown up in Christ, they’re still babies. Every Christian should be growing spiritually. We’ve all got a duty to grow up, but we’ve also got a duty to understand the different development stages of the Christian growth, Ephesians 4:15. In other words, we need to be patient with those who are slow to develop.
3. The kingdom growth is from God.
Can anyone really explain how things grow? A seed can be taken into the laboratory and analysed, but the scientist can’t tell you what makes a seed turn into a flower, the best scientists in the world can’t explain it, Job 36:26-29.
It’s the same with a farmer. A farmer can do many things to the soil, things such as ploughing the soil, fertilizing the soil, and weeding the soil, but he can’t make the seed grow, Mark 4:26-28. In other words, the lesson here is that there are some things that God alone can do. It’s the same in the spiritual kingdom of God, whatever growth takes place in His kingdom is due to the operation of God.
We can select the seed and prepare the soil, we may sow the seed, but we can’t make it germinate in the human heart. And how do we prepare the soil? We prepare the soil with prayer, Colossians 4:3-4, but we can’t make the seed grow. Paul says it’s only God who causes it to grow, 1 Corinthians 3:6.
How does God do that? We don’t understand how God makes the seed grow, but we know He does or we wouldn’t be Christians today. But just because we allow God to make the seed grow, that doesn’t let us off the hook. We’ve still got a responsibility to carry out because we’ve still got a vital part in the growing process and our part is an active one, Philemon 6.
In other words, we accept that we can’t make the seed grow, but we still need to make sure that the conditions are right so that the seed will have a chance to grow. And the right condition is remembering that God is spirit, John 4:24. At the end of the day, the kingdom belongs to God and the growth of the kingdom will be from God. The sower must sow God’s seed and wait patiently for God to do His part. We must sow the seed, but it’s God who causes the growth, it’s God who gives fruit.
4. It’s God who harvests that fruit.
Jesus says that it’s God who produces growth, hence the fruit, then when this fruit is ripe, it’s God who will bring the matter to a conclusion, not man, Mark 4:29. He’s saying that judgement is certain, James 5:7-8.
For people who have been born again, John 3:3-5 / Acts 2:38, this is our hope. For those who haven’t been born again, this will be the Day when they will wish they had never been born at all, Revelation 14:14-16. Judgement is certain and so when we think about it, this whole parable puts us in our right place. And that’s we’re all helpless without God, Romans 5:6-8, and we have to wait patiently for His return, Lamentations 3:25-26. It’s not enough just to work, we must work and pray, Luke 21:36. We can do a lot as Christians but there are some things we can never do.
And if you’re not a Christian today, then you can be sure that whenever you hear His word being preached that His seed has been truly planted in your heart. The question is this, are you going to humbly accept His Word in your life or are you going to stubbornly resist His Word in your life? I pray you choose wisely.
In the ‘The Parable Of The Growing Seed’, Mark 4:26-29, we see how Jesus explained how the spiritual kingdom of God grows. We see that this kingdom’s growth was orderly. Just like our physical growth, we grow through infancy, childhood, youth and manhood. In other words, it takes time and we need to be patient.
We also see how the kingdom’s growth is from God Himself. We plant the seed and water it when we get the chance but it’s God who causes the seed to grow. And we don’t know how God does this but we know He does because we’re Christians today.
Jesus is going to teach us another aspect of this kingdom’s growth but from a different point of view, from the view point of a garden or the field, Mark 4:30-32 / Luke 13:18-19 / Matthew 13:31-32. Everything God created has a purpose and we can learn many lessons from nature, and that includes the mustard seed.
During Biblical times, it was very common practice to talk about the mustard seed as one of the smallest seeds, Mark 4:31 / Matthew 13:32. Strictly speaking it wasn’t the smallest seed around at this time but the tiny mustard seed was used to speak of anything minute. For example, Jesus spoke of faith, as a grain of mustard seed, Matthew 17:20 / Luke 17:6.
Let me say a few words about the mustard plant before we go on because this will help us in our understanding of the parable. The Palestinian mustard plant, because of its size wasn’t usually found in the garden, it was usually found in an open field, and these plants grow to between ten and twelve feet in height.
When it comes to shrubs, this was the giant, its branches were so large they would spread out like a tree. And so because of its size, it would very often attract many birds, Mark 4:32 / Luke 13:19 / Matthew 31:32. During the time of Jesus, birds would often be seen in the branches of the mustard plant as they fed on the small black seeds of the mustard pods. And like we know about all of Jesus’ parables, He reveals a secret about how the kingdom of God grows from an everyday event. I’m going to share with you three points on this parable.
1. Just because something is little, doesn’t mean it’s not important.
When we look at the small mustard seed and we see how microscopic it is, we might be forgiven for thinking it’s not worth much. But when we talk to someone who grows these plants, we will find exactly how valuable it really is. As a spice, mustard is sold in seed or powder form and even today we can buy it in paste form. In other words, the little mustard seed by itself doesn’t look so important, but our experience teaches us not to minimise it.
I guess what I’m saying is that the little things in life should never be discounted. When we look at the world today, it’s obsessed with bigness. The Great Wall of China is seventeen-hundred miles long. The Alaskan Pipeline runs for eight-hundred miles. The Empire State Building, which was built in New York in 1931, is one-hundred and two-story high. So many of our modern-day skyscrapers dwarf the tower of Babel. When we think about our farmers, they’re termed as successful according to the bigness of their operations.
So to a world obsessed with magnitude, Jesus says, ‘pay attention to the little things’. A cup of cold water, Mark 9:41, a visit to the sick, a welcome to a stranger, a lost sheep, Jesus says, ‘these are the little things’. In Matthew 25:35-36, when Jesus is talking about the great division which will happen on judgement day, notice He doesn’t want us to feed the world, He doesn’t want us to solve world poverty. It’s not big things He wants from us, it’s little things.
Give a hungry person someone to eat, give a thirsty person something to drink. Give someone who needs clothes, some clothes, look after and visit the lonely and sick. These aren’t big tasks, they’re little mission fields that we all can do. Just because someone has a small task within God’s kingdom doesn’t mean that it isn’t important. Doing a good deed for someone spreads the Gospel faster than 100 sermons. That’s because just like a grain of mustard seed, they increase in size beyond imaginable proportion.
2. However important little things may be, the parable focuses on the consequences of little beginnings.
The Egyptians were famous and still are famous for their pyramid buildings and one of the greatest pyramids built was built at Giza. It contained an inner chamber where the Pharaohs were buried. His followers were usually buried in there too, along with some of his personal artefacts. The rest of the pyramid complex consisted of a large enclosure, an adjacent mortuary temple, and a walkway leading down to a pavilion. And when we look at these magnificent structures, we can’t help but stand in awe. But when we think about it, these structures started with one brick.
Vincent Van Gogh has got many famous paintings but each one started with a single stroke of the brush. The German composer Ludwig Van Beethoven started his great symphonies and concertos with a single note.
In literature, every book ever written, every essay, and every poem all comes from the twenty-six letters of the alphabet. In fact, the world’s biggest things have generally had small beginnings. Momentous deeds and earth circling revolutions can be traced back to a speck, like a germ of mustard seed.
When we think about Christianity, the world’s greatest movement had its beginnings in a manger in Bethlehem, Luke 2:10-12. The proud and busy Roman world didn’t take any notice of the day when Jesus was born. And it casually took notice of His life, and even when Jesus died, the Roman world didn’t care much, why? Because Jesus was born in a manger, He was a carpenter from Nazareth and when He died, He was now gone, so much for a great leader!
Certainly, in outward appearances, Jesus looked less than the least of all seeds, His followers were counted by the dozen, not by the thousands. And yet, from only a handful of disciples, and in spite of their leader’s death on a cross. There sprang into existence the universal church of the Lord Jesus Christ, which you and I are members of today.
Twenty-one centuries have come and gone, and today, He still remains the central figure for much of the human race. We should learn the lesson from the mustard seed. A thing may be small, almost without hope but that doesn’t mean it’s not going to succeed. Jesus is saying that small beginnings can succeed because it’s God who is behind it. Do we honestly think that the first-century disciples ever thought that their small faith would have had such an impact on the world today?
Their faith began unnoticed, just like the tiny mustard seed but look at it now, it has gone all around the world, Colossians 1:5. Jesus said with faith like that, ‘we can move mountains, we can tell a tree to go and plant itself in the sea,’ Mark 11:23. That’s faith, that’s leaving things in God’s hands because we know that God is in control.
3. Don’t miss the point of this parable.
Some people like to believe that the branches, which Jesus talks about here, Mark 4:32 / Luke 13:19 / Matthew 13:32, are symbolic of modern-day denominations. In other words just as the birds come and sit in the branches of the trees, it’s said that people can come and enter the different branches or denominations of the church.
But there are a few problems with this interpretation. They fail to ask the questions we have been asking with every parable we’ve looked at. Who was Jesus speaking to and what did it mean to them? Jesus was speaking to His disciples, Mark 4:10 / Matthew 13:10. Was denominationalism around in Jesus’ day? No!
Some people try to understand the parable by looking at Christianity today. What they need to do is look at Christianity as we find it in the first century. It’s all too easy to make something mean something, which Jesus never meant it to mean. It’s too easy to speak of branches of the church, but in the days of Christ and His apostles, these different so-called branches or divisions of Christianity were unknown.
The Bible nowhere teaches that there are many churches, the Bible always talks about the unity of the church as in singular, Ephesians 4:4-6. Jesus didn’t say, ‘on this rock, I will build my churches.’ He said, ‘I will build my church,’ singular, Matthew 16:18.
There are other people who like to say that this parable was a prophecy of Jesus. In other words, this parable remained unfulfilled until the recent rise of denominationalism, rubbish! This takes their interpretation too far, there’s no need to make everything in the parable mean something. The branches of the mustard tree aren’t the main focus of Jesus’ attention any more than the man who sowed the mustard seed or the nests that were made in the tree’s branches.
The point of the parable is simply that the microscopic mustard seed grows into a tree large enough for the birds to come and nest in it. The man who sowed the seed, the field or garden, the nests, and the birds themselves, are all incidental to the one central truth of the parable.
And that’s this, the kingdom of God, Mark 4:30 / Luke 13:18 / Matthew 13:31, even with a small beginning would prosper and prevail over all other kingdoms. That’s what Jesus is getting at, that’s what He is teaching His disciples.
Daniel’s interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, Daniel 2:31-45, is important because it helps us in our understanding of this parable. Let me give you a quick rundown of what this dream means. Daniel 2:32, talks about ‘the head’ as being made of pure gold, this is talking about The Babylonian Empire. Daniel 2:32, also talks about ‘the chest and arms’ as being made of silver, this is talking about The Medo-Persian Empire.
Daniel 2:32-33, also mentions ‘the belly and thighs, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay.’ as being made of bronze, this is talking about The Roman Empire. And in Daniel 2:34, he talks about ‘this rock’, which is not made by human hands. The stone cut not by human hands, struck the image down and became ‘a great mountain and filled the whole earth,’ Daniel 2:35. In other words, Daniel prophesied that God’s kingdom was destined to conquer all other kingdoms.
Did Daniel’s interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream come true and was it accurate? Yes, it did, all we have to do is read our history books and we will see how accurate it was. And we will read about how one kingdom fell after another, all the great historian writers tell us all about it.
What can we learn from this parable? Let me give you a couple of things to think about. Do you realise that you are a part of a kingdom that will never be destroyed and will last forever? But don’t take my word for it, take God’s word, Daniel 2:44. If you’re a Christian today then you’re a part of God’s spiritual kingdom right now.
Notice that Paul doesn’t say, concerning our citizenship, ‘will be in heaven’ but ‘is in heaven’, that’s present tense, Philippians 3:17-20. Now you may be thinking to yourself that you would like to become a part of this kingdom but you haven’t got much to offer, well just remember what we’ve learned today.
Jesus says that it’s the little things we have got to offer that can make all the difference. We might not be able to preach or teach, but we can certainly write a letter of encouragement to other Christians in Jesus’ name. We might not be able to song lead, but we can come to worship and encourage everyone with our friendly smile in Jesus’ name.
In a world where people say that size matters, Jesus says, ‘give me what you can and I will do wonders with it.’ Look at what He did with a couple of fish and five loaves of bread, Matthew 14:13-21 / Matthew 15:32-39. Look at what He did with six stone water jugs after they have been filled with water, John 2:1-11. Imagine what He can do with you if you would only give yourself to Him first.
Jesus used parables as a way of teaching the Word of God and He taught just enough for them to understand, Mark 4:33. The disciples were given the privilege of having all of His parables explained to them when they were alone with Jesus, Mark 4:34.
This event is also recorded by Luke in Luke 8:22-25, and Matthew in Matthew 8:23-27. In the evening Jesus suggests that He and his disciples go to the other side, that is, the other side of the Sea of Galilee, Mark 4:35 / Luke 8:22. One of the reasons Jesus chose fishermen was because of their easy access to boats, they may even used a specific boat for Jesus’ ministry, Mark 4:36 / Matthew 8:23.
A great storm arose, Mark 4:37 / Luke 8:23 / Matthew 8:24, and the disciples panicked. These fishermen were scared, this must have been some storm! Remember that most of the disciples were hardened fishermen and they would be used to being in storms.
Barclay, in his commentary, says the following.
‘In one sense this was a very ordinary scene on the Sea of Galilee. The Sea of Galilee is small; it is only thirteen miles from north to south and eight miles from east to west at its widest. The Jordan Valley makes a deep cleft in the surface of the earth, and the Sea of Galilee is part of that cleft. It is 680 feet below sea level. That gives it a climate which is warm and gracious, but it also creates dangers. On the west side there are hills with valleys and gullies; and, when a cold wind comes from the west, these valleys and gullies act like gigantic funnels. The wind, as it were, becomes compressed in them, and rushes down upon the lake with savage violence and with startling suddenness so that the calm of one moment can become the raging storm of the next. The storms on the Sea of Galilee combine suddenness and violence in a unique way.’
Bruce, in his commentary, says the following about the boat.
‘It was covered, hidden, the waves rising high above the boat, breaking on it, and gradually filling with water.’
Jesus consistently demonstrated His authority by doing things that were totally beyond human capacity. In this case, while the disciples were crossing the Sea of Galilee by boat, Jesus fell asleep on a cushion, Mark 4:38 / Luke 8:23 / Matthew 8:24.
In desperation, they awoke Jesus saying, ‘Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!’ Luke 8:24 / Matthew 8:25. Mark says ‘teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’ Mark 4:38. Of course He cares. Jesus then turned to the disciples and reproved them for their lack of faith, Mark 4:40 / Luke 8:24 / Matthew 8:26. Though they had seen Jesus perform many miracles, they were always amazed by each new one.
Jesus got up and calmly rebuked the wind and the sea, Mark 4:39 / Luke 8:24 / Matthew 8:26, and the storm ceased. The word, ‘quiet’ means to muzzle. Notice that Christ calmed the storm with one word, what a difference one word can make. When our lives are filled with turmoil, one word from Christ can change everything. Matthew also records that Jesus uses similar words to calm the storm, Matthew 8:26.
This is the point that Jesus wanted the disciples to understand. At this time all things were under the care and control of Jesus because He was head over all things, John 13:3 / John 17:2. They said, ‘who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?’ Mark 4:41 / Luke 8:25 / Matthew 8:27 / Psalm 89:8-9 / Psalm 93:4.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following.
‘It was then plain that every area of existence was totally under our Lord’s authority. The spiritual world, the physical world, time, life, and death were, and are, utterly subject to his will.’
Once we recognise that Jesus is God and the Creator of all that exists, Colossians 1:16, then we will realise that nothing is outside the power of Jesus to control. For this reason, it is faith in Jesus that brings peace of mind, Psalms 4:8 / Acts 12:6 / Philippians 4:7.
Considering the things that the disciples had already seen Jesus do, their doubts about His ability to quiet the storm are astonishing. They had seen Him heal multitudes of people, cast out demons and prove Himself equal to any task at hand. Suddenly, they despaired because of a storm on the sea. Obviously, they didn’t really think Jesus could solve this problem because they were amazed when He did.
How could they have been so slow and so distrustful? What about us? Do we not believe that Jesus can handle any situation if we trust and obey His will? Have we not seen in the Scriptures how Jesus can solve every problem? How do we react when we confront a fresh crisis in our lives? Do we trustingly and confidently turn to Jesus, or do we throw up our hands in despair? How well do we sleep?
In the presence of Jesus, there should be a great emotional calm in our lives, Psalm 65:7 / Psalm 89:9 / Luke 4:39. Sometimes the best thing to do amidst life’s storms is simply stop, be still, and know that God is there and present, Psalm 46:1-10. God never sleeps, Psalm 121:4-6, and He will never abandon us, Hebrews 13:5. It’s always better to be in a boat with Jesus during a storm than to be in the storm without Jesus.