The Scriptures have a good deal to say about sowing, the word of Galatians 6:7 being partially well known, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap.” Any intelligent man with experience in this world should have no doubt about this principle of God’s government. What follows in Galatians 6 is also a divine principle, or the application of the one already noticed, “For he that sows to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that sows to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting” (verse 8). Only the Christian can understand this, for the man of the world is unable to sow to the Spirit. Within the believer there are two natures, the nature of the flesh and the nature that is born of the Spirit, if we gratify the flesh nothing but sorrow for the soul will result, and the end of it all is corruption, but if we gratify the divine nature there will be nothing but blessing now, and we shall lay up something for the coming day.
“A sower went forth to sow”
It is indeed wonderful that the Son of God came down into this world to bring to men the message of the disposition of God in grace towards them. While on earth His message went forth to all who heard, and since He has gone back to heaven God’s word of grace has gone forth through His servants to all men. Christ is still seen to be the preacher of the Gospel in Ephesians 2, where it is written, “He…came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh” (Eph. 2:16-17). The seed that God’s Son has sown, and is still sowing, is the word of God, and every individual is responsible as to how he responds to what he hears.
There were four conditions of hearts into which the word of God came when the Lord first sowed the word, and these four conditions of heart are with us still. The first is represented by seed falling “by the way side” (Matt. 13:4), and we are told “the fowls came and devoured them up.” In such a heart there was no understanding of the word of God’s grace, no exercise regarding the blessing of God, and no desire after things eternal. Such is man naturally under the influence of the god of this world, who takes out of the heart the word it has heard through the Gospel.
“Some fell upon stony places…and forthwith they sprung up…and when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away” (verses 5-6). Here are professing believers, whose natural emotions are moved to accept what is preached, but there has been no real work of God in the heart, no root to draw upon the divine resources that God has to sustain faith in true believers. In times of “tribulation or persecution” because of the word, such are offended, for there is not within them the divine nature that is able to withstand the assaults of the enemy of God and His people.
Other seeds “fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them” (verse 7). In the hearts of this class there were roots of different kinds when the word was heard and professedly received. For the moment thoughts of God’s word had a place in the heart, but there was no good soil in which the word could take root, the ground was occupied by the roots of the other plants which very soon asserted themselves. “The care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches” overcame any natural desire after the things of God, so that there was no fruit in their lives.
How very refreshing to the soul to read “But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixty-fold, some thirty-fold” (verse 8). There were hearts prepared of God in which the good seed took root, and brought forth the fruit that delights the heart of God. Such understood the word that God brought to them through His Son, for the ground was good, having been prepared in exercise, which no doubt brought with it repentance towards God. Unlike the stony ground hearers, there is no word of joy in the reception of the good seed, but the joy would come in due course, joy in the Holy Spirit.
The Sowing of the Tares
Among the good seed sown by the Son of Man in this world there followed a sowing of tares by the enemy of God. This was done “while men slept” (Matt. 13:25), for alas, soon after the apostles left this scene the church lapsed into a state of spiritual sleep, and it was then the tares were sown. All kinds of evil teachings were implanted in the hearts of men who professed to be Christians, but who, in reality were “the children of the wicked one” (verse 38). Though this tells us of what took place at the beginning of the Gospel testimony, the same thing happens wherever the Gospel goes. Faithful servants of the Lord sow His word, but soon the enemy follows with his evil teachings and gains those who profess to be Christians, but who are the product of the work of the enemy of God.
We have now reached the period the Lord speaks of as “in the time of harvest” (verse 30), for the Lord is about to take His own out of this world to be for ever with Himself. Now we see the bundles of the tares being gathered in the many false systems of the Christian profession, gathered for the time of divine judgment which will consume them. It is not given to the servants of God to carry out His work of judgment, that is to His saints; our privilege is to make known God’s grace, not to carry out His judgment. Professed servants of the Lord have attempted this work, but instead of plucking up the tares they have burnt the true saints of God, as is witnessed by the many martyrs that have died at the hands of a persecuting church.
“A corn of wheat”
After certain Greeks had come to Philip with the request, “Sir, we would see Jesus,” and after Andrew and Philip had told Jesus, Jesus “answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of Man should be glorified” (John 12:21–23). The glory of the Son of Man had been prophesied in the Old Testament Scriptures, where in Psalm 8 He is seen “crowned with glory and honour,” and having dominion over the works of God’s hands, with all things under His feet” (verses 5-6). The coming of the Greeks to see Jesus evidently brought all this in vision before His soul. In Daniel 7 the Son of Man is seen as having universal and everlasting dominion, with not only His people Israel under His sway, but the whole world.
As this vision comes before the Lord He said, “Verily, verily I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides alone; but if it die, it brings forth much fruit.” This was the way by which the Son of Man would enter into His glory, being glorified Himself in death, and bringing glory to God in His obedience unto death, and in accomplishing the great work of redemption. His place in glory as Son of Man would be on account of His entering death, and coming out in triumph as the Risen One.
His glory, and the glory of God through death, are clearly spoken of by the Lord in John 13:31-32, but also in the place He would have as being glorified by God as Son of Man in heaven. But Jesus went into death that He might not remain alone. He desired to have companions with Him on the risen side of death, and in His glory. Such would be like Himself, the true Corn of Wheat, having His life and nature, “He that sanctifies and they who are sanctified” being all of one, “for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren” (Heb. 2:11).
We could not be associated with the Lord Jesus apart from His death. He, in grace, might identify Himself with the excellent of the earth in His baptism, but He remained alone in His life and nature until He had died, and in resurrection He sent the message through Mary, “go to my brethren, and say unto them I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God” (John 20:17). Coming into the company of His own, and speaking to them the word of peace, the Lord showed to them His hands and His side. His death had enabled Him to send the message to them, and give them peace. Having spoken to them, “He breathed on them, and says unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost” (verse 22). Just as God had breathed into Adam the breath of life, the Last Adam breathed into His own His own life, the life that been made available for them through His death, through the corn of wheat falling into the ground and dying.
The harvest from the Corn of Wheat will be a great one, even as the Lord said, there will be “much fruit.” There were those to whom the Lord first appeared after He rose from the dead, there were the three thousand on the day of Pentecost, and there are the myriads down the centuries who have believed the Gospel, all having the life and nature of Him who went into death that they might be associated with Him now in resurrection, and His companions in His kingdom, and in the Father’s House for ever.
“It is sown . . . it is raised”
As Paul reasoned on the truth of resurrection he wrote “thou sowest not that body that shall be…but God gives it a body as it has pleased Him,” and having said this in regard to natural things the Apostle added, “So also is the resurrection of the dead” (1 Cor. 15:37–42). God is pleased to bring out from the bare grain that lies dead in the ground the precious grain of resurrection. What is seen in natural things is a picture of what will take place when the saints of God are raised from the grave. Already Christ has entered into death, and has come forth in resurrection, “And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly” (verse 49), and this is true of the dead who are raised, and of the living who are changed at the coming of the Lord.
Scripture is careful to show that resurrection is a real thing, for it emphasises that what is sown is raised, though raised in new conditions. Therefore it is written, “It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption.” The identity remains, for the it that is sown is the it that is raised. Corruption is the end of man after the flesh, and when the body is put into the grave it is in this state. How different will the condition of the body of the Christian be when it is raised, for it will then be incorruptible. Those who are alive have corruptible bodies, being subject to corruption, but when the dead are raised, and the living changed their bodies will not be subject to corruption, they are of another order.
The body of the Christian is sown in dishonour, for all man’s glory is brought down into dishonour in the dust of death. What has a man to boast of when his body lies in corruption in the grave? This is the end of all man’s pride and distinctions among men. How different it will be for the Christian in resurrection, when his body bears the likeness of Christ’s “glorious body” (Phil. 3:21). The weakness too that marked the body in death will also be exchanged for power. What can be weaker than a dead body? Divine power will characterize the body of glory that Christ raises from the dead when He comes to call His saints to be with Him.
Moreover, “It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body” (verse 44). When the Lord rose from the dead He came into the midst of His own when the doors were shut, showing that the spiritual body is not subject to the limitations of the natural. The Lord in grace took a body of flesh and blood, and subjected Himself to its limitations, knowing weariness, hunger and thirst, but when He rose He entered into new conditions of life in His body of glory. It is for this change the saints are waiting, to enter into the fulness of the blessing God has given to us in His grace, along with Christ in bodies like His.
R. 27.1.69