Of all the parables uttered by our Lord, during His ministry in this world, not one is of more commanding importance than the parable of the sower. The comprehensiveness of its range, the depth and solemnity of its teaching, and its immense practical force, bearing down upon the heart and conscience, render it of unspeakable value; and, we may safely assert, never was that value more apparent to every thoughtful spirit than at the very time in which our lot is cast. May the Holy Spirit interpret and apply it to our souls by His own direct and powerful ministry!
The parable naturally divides itself into three distinct subjects, namely, the sower; the seed; and the soil.
1. As to the sower, it is none other than the Lord Himself. No doubt He employs others in the great work of sowing the precious seed of the kingdom, but He Himself is the great sower. He, when on earth, was ever scattering abroad the seed of the word; and now that He has taken His seat in the heavens, He, by the Holy Ghost, fits, fills, and sends forth men to carry on the same glorious work, while He, blessed forever be His name, works with them, to give effect to their testimony, and cause the seed to take root in the hearts of men.
This presents our Lord in a profoundly interesting character. It is impossible to look at a sower, moving along the furrows of a field, scattering abroad, with both hands, the seed, and not be struck with the beauty, force, and suggestiveness of the figure.
We must, however, at the very outset, remind the reader that it does not fall within the scope of this parable to set forth those precious operations of the Spirit of God which are absolutely essential to cause the seed to take root and bring forth fruit in any given case. For these we must look into other portions of the inspired volume. It is always necessary, in studying a parable, to seize with accuracy the main point-therein, and not seek to import other things into it. This is a fundamental principle, the application of which is of the very highest importance.
But although the parable of the sower does not treat of the absolutely necessary operation of the Spirit of God, other scriptures do so largely; and hence we must never forget that not one single atom of genuine fruit could ever be produced, throughout the length and breadth of the harvest field, were it not for the gracious action of the Holy Ghost in preparing hearts for the right reception of the good word of God.
We deem it needful to insist upon this here, because some might imagine that there was any essential difference in the soil: anything, in certain cases, indigenous, whereby good fruit could be produced, apart from a divine work in the soul. There is nothing; whatever of the kind. Scripture teaches us in manifold places that there is no difference; that in us, by nature, dwelleth no good thing; that, as in the vineyard of Judaism, nothing but wild grapes was ever produced; so, in the wide harvest-field of christian profession, nothing but spurious fruit would ever be found, were it not for the ministry of God the Holy Ghost, whereby the soil is prepared to receive the seed and bring forth fruit to perfection.
This leaves wholly untouched the great question of man’s responsibility—a truth quite as fully and clearly laid down in scripture as the truth of the indispensable operations of the Spirit of God.
None of these things lie within the range of our parable, though, we need hardly say, it perfectly harmonizes with them all. It presents our Lord in an entirely new character, even as One who has come down into this world, bearing with Him that which is to produce fruit, seeing that all His previous actings had only brought out man’s utter barrenness and good-for-nothingness.
Hearken to the powerful and touching appeal in Isa. 5: “Now will I sing to my beloved a song of my beloved, touching his vineyard. My well-beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill. And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein; and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. And now, Ο inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard. What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? Wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? And now, go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard; I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up: and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down. And I will lay it waste; it shall not be pruned nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.”
Such was the sad result of all the divine dealings with the house of Israel—“wild grapes”—“briers and thorns”—utter failure—hopeless ruin—not one redeeming feature, mitigating circumstance, or qualifying clause. The house of Israel, and the men of Judah, notwithstanding all the marvelous painstaking of Jehovah, had failed to meet His mind. The vineyard had not yielded so much as a single cluster to refresh His spirit; and therefore He has to begin on the new, and go forth into the wide harvest-field of this world, there to scatter broadcast the incorruptible seed of the kingdom. “There went out a sower to sow.”
Now, there is something not only intensely interesting, but perfectly delightful, in the thought of our Lord acting in this world in the character of a sower. To think of the High and Mighty One, that inhabiteth eternity, that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, that sustains the vast universe by the word of His power, the Object of heaven’s worship, the One whom angels serve—to think of Him passing along the rough furrows of this world scattering the precious seed! Oh! beloved reader, what a view it gives us of His character, of His nature, of His heart! How strikingly it illustrates, how touchingly it proves, His loving desire and purpose to have to do with the children of men—to surround Himself with sinners saved by grace.
Why all this toil—this painstaking—this patient labor? Why did He not leave us to our own self-chosen, downward path? Why not allow us to sink into our merited perdition? Ah! the answer to all these and a thousand similar questions is contained in that one golden sentence—“God is love.” Yes, this accounts for it all. His kindness to us wretched sinners—His “philanthropy”—His intense desire for our salvation. All praise to His glorious name! Universal and eternal homage!
We cannot think of our God, in the marvelous character of a sower, without having the profoundest depths of our moral being moved—the deepest and most tender springs of our hearts touched. Truly we may say, God will be God spite of all our wretchedness. Nothing can stop the outflow of His love; nothing can exhaust the fountain of His grace. He is untiring in His patient labor in this world. Is He disappointed in His vineyard in Palestine? Forth He goes into the fields of this wide, wide world, bearing in His hand the seed-basket, to scatter broadcast the precious seed of His own holy word. He will save. He will surround Himself with the objects of His love—the trophies of His grace. Nothing can satisfy His loving heart but to have His house filled with poor, miserable, outcast, hell-deserving sinners, who shall fill His heavenly courts, and sing the praises of redeeming love throughout the golden ages of eternity. Again, we lift our hearts to Him, and exclaim, All praise to His glorious name! Universal and eternal homage to the Savior God—the everlasting lover and glorious Redeemer of our guilty, perishing, hell-deserving souls!
(To be continued, if the Lord will.)