Scripture Reading: Matt. 13:3-9, 19-23

I. According to the Bible, growth equals building; this takes place by the growth of the divine seed of life, the seed of the kingdom within us—1 John 3:9; Col. 2:19; Eph. 4:15-16; Mark 4:26; Luke 17:20-21:

A. Ephesians 3:17 reveals that the Triune God has come into us to do a building work with Himself
as the element and also with something from us as the material; this is illusrated by the parable of the sower in Matthew 13; the Lord sows Himself as the seed of life into men’s hearts, the soil, that He might grow and live in them and be expressed from within them—v. 3:

1. The wayside signifies the heart that is hardened by worldly traffic and cannot open to
understand, to comprehend, the word of the kingdom; the birds signify the evil one, Satan, who comes and snatches away the word of the kingdom sown in the hardened heart—vv. 4, 19.

2. The rocky places that do not have much earth signify the heart that is shallow in receiving the word of the kingdom; deep within such a heart are rocks—hidden sins, personal desires, self- seeking, and self-pity—which hinder the seed from taking root in the depths of the heart—vv. 5, 20-21:

a. The sun with its scorching heat signifies affliction or persecution (vv. 6, 21); the scorching heat of the sun causes the seed that is not rooted to wither.

b. The heat of the sun is for the growth and ripening of the crop, which take place once the seed has been deeply rooted; but because of the seed’s lack of root, the sun’s heat, which should cause growth and ripening, becomes a deathblow to the seed.

3. The thorns signify the anxiety of the age and the deceitfulness of riches, which utterly choke the word, preventing it from growing in the heart and causing it to become unfruitful—vv. 7, 22; Luke 12:15-21.

4. The good earth signifies the good heart that is not hardened by worldly traffic, that is without hidden sins, and that is without the anxiety of the age and the deceitfulness of riches; 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. 13:8, 23.