For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.
The earth produces its crop by a gradual, ordered process, first the green blade, then the head of grain, then the ripe grain in the head. The life that drives that growth is hidden in the seed and given by God alone, so people can prepare, plant, tend and cultivate but cannot make anything live or grow. Human work still matters, for God gives sunshine, dew and rain while the worker must sow at the right time and patiently watch, pray and wait for the harvest. In the same way Christian character is not made in a moment but grows quietly and continually through successive stages, as the word of God received in the heart springs up into a life that bears fruit for others. Even childhood has its own appointed beauty, for Jesus Himself grew from helpless infancy to mature wisdom, showing that each stage can be complete while still leading on to greater maturity.
Gradual Order of Growth
The kingdom grows by a fixed and gradual order, as a planted crop moves from sprout to head to ripe grain. The seed develops in stages that cannot be hurried or reversed, first the green blade, then the ear, and after that the mature grain in the ear. That advance lies beyond human power to produce, for people can prepare the soil, sow, and tend the field, but only God gives the seed its life and brings it to maturity. The stalk reaches ripeness in its proper season under God's law and control because, unlike rebellious people, it does not resist His working.
The ground producing fruit by itself does not mean nature acts on its own, but that the seed unfolds by life and laws imparted by Christ. He gave the seed its life and properties, gives power to soil and seed, and works unseen to make them fruitful, while human skill and labor still have their appointed part. In that process the seed gives its own life to the blade and then to the ear, and the ear in turn holds seed for another planting. This natural development is a living illustration of how truth grows in both the natural and the spiritual world.
The seed must be buried in the earth, where it appears thrown away and lost and may remain hidden for a time before it germinates. It springs up by the vitality of God's living power and then grows in a quiet and often imperceptible yet continuous way. That growth proceeds beyond the sower's knowledge and control, and where there is life there must be growth or there is no life. Christian life follows the same pattern, complete in its way at each stage yet still advancing toward God's fuller purpose.
As a crop matures by successive stages, Scripture was not given in one continuous chain of unbroken utterances but piece by piece through successive generations. It came as God in providence saw fitting opportunity to impress people at different times and places through men moved by the Holy Spirit. What is sown does not mean good seed alone, for evil ideas and error planted in the heart also grow by the same staged law. From a small beginning they keep growing step by step until fully developed and spreading, as when seeds of evil from Satanic, spiritualistic, and demoralizing literature take root in apprentices and all who handle it, demoralizing minds, destroying discernment between truth and error, and causing souls to be lost.
God Alone Gives Life
Only God gives the seed its life and vitality and brings it to maturity through stages from blade to ear to ripe grain. The seed has no power of itself but holds a God-given principle of life, and its growth and the connection between sowing and harvest depend on His power. People can prepare the soil, sow, tend the field, plow, and help promote growth, but they cannot make a living plant grow or supply what makes it spring from hard ground to fruitfulness, and their ability has limits.
God works through unseen agencies and the properties He put in the soil, bringing the seed to life and to harvest by rain, sunshine, dew, showers, and the air. He gives the seed life and sends sunshine, dew, and rain with sunshine and living water from Himself as the Source of truth, and He brings the grain to maturity in its proper season under His law, control, and supervision because the plant does not resist His working. The human part is to prepare the ground and plant the seed at the right time and in the right way, while God's part is to give life and cause it to spring up and grow through its stages to harvest, and the same pattern applies to righteousness and cultivation of heart and character through cooperation with Him. If the human agent fails to do his part there will be no harvest despite sun, dew, showers, and rain, and though planting is done the seed will never spring up and grow if God withholds sunshine, dew, and rain.
Nature follows God's direction without resisting His work, and this obedience illustrates the Creator's order. People are made in God's image and given reason and speech, yet they can fail to appreciate His gifts and obey His will, in contrast to grain that matures because it does not resist Him. The stages of growth therefore teach people to cooperate with God rather than produce disorder.
The daily provision of harvest through rain, air, and sunshine is God's work through natural agencies, giving the seed life and carrying it from blade to ear to mature grain. It provides the materials from which people make bread, as they prepare soil, sow, and make bread while recognizing His power behind their work. This familiar process is a continual miracle like the feeding of the multitude, and it calls for gratitude to God and glory to Him for the food He provides rather than credit to human effort or natural causes alone.
The life is hidden in the seed, and healthy growth depends on nourishment given through God's creative word and provision. Truth sown in the heart and nourished develops first like a blade, then an ear, and finally ripe grain, teaching how God renews the heart and pointing to the resurrection of the body. In the spiritual application the former rain gives life and begins growth, while the latter rain ripens the harvest and represents grace preparing the church for the coming of the Son of Man, and the latter rain cannot bring the seed to perfection unless the early showers have first done their work. This growth does not consist in noisy shouting or bodily contortions, but Bible truth refines the taste, sanctifies the judgment, and develops a modest, meek, and lowly character.
Human Work and Cooperation
Cultivation requires cooperation between the human agent and God, for the crop grows in ordered stages from blade to ear to ripe grain by a life beyond human power to produce. The human part is to prepare the ground and plant the seed at the right time and in the right way, and to sow, tend, and cultivate the field, while God's part is to give the seed life and cause it to spring up and grow by sending sunshine, dew, showers, and rain. If the human fails to do his part there will be no harvest despite sun and rain, and though the planting is done the seed will never spring up and grow if God withholds sun, dew, and rain. That the earth brings forth fruit of herself does not mean nature acts independently, for God gives power to the soil and seed while human skill and work also have a part, and the same pattern applies to righteousness in the heart where people must cooperate with God as He works to bring spiritual growth to completion.
Those who sow truth should work patiently while waiting for signs of life, trusting and waiting in faith and hope while watching and praying, since the seed of truth may take time to show life as a crop develops first the blade, then the ear, and finally the full grain. Possessing the Word creates responsibility to impart it, so the work must advance solidly without haste, teaching in the simplest possible way with plain pictures and walking and working in trust. Visible results do not by themselves measure a worker's character, for faithful, diligent labor matters even when the harvest is disappointing, while gradual growth in nature depends on unseen agencies and providence and represents truth sown and cultivated in prepared hearts.
Both spiritual growth and temporal harvest require proper, intelligent cultivation with reasoning powers and faith in the Word that created the seed and the earth and the fruit of the earth for the service of man. Workers should not be discouraged about temporal things by apparent failures nor disheartened by delay, but should work the soil cheerfully, hopefully, and gratefully, believing the earth holds in her bosom rich stores for the faithful worker to garner, richer than gold or silver, and that with proper cultivation she will yield her treasures for the benefit of man. The school farm's harvest illustrates this gradual process from blade to ear to full grain, as the land yields its produce through God's blessing and the great Sower plants and tends His seed. The produce and the daily work of sowing, cultivating, and harvesting are a lesson-book in which sowing and planting, germination, growth in its season, and harvest make spiritual lessons plain and apply them to the needs of the soul and to principles students should learn from daily life.
The tender blade of truth must be able to reach the surface and grow, so truth must not be planted so deeply through overcomplication that the blade never emerges. Presenting a subject with excessive depth or detail can bury the seed too deeply.
Teaching Truth Through Nature
Jesus drew this picture from the farmer's work and the familiar events of everyday life to teach the most sublime truths of the kingdom of God, showing love for the beautiful in nature and making natural life the source of spiritual lessons. He associated natural things with spiritual things and linked nature and the life experience of His hearers with the truths of the written word, so that afterward whenever the eyes rest on those natural objects His lesson is repeated. Taking the growing seed from daily life to illustrate immortal truth, He gave an illustration simple in form yet of wonderful depth of meaning, so that once heard the truth becomes a living reality because the scenes of nature and the affairs of daily life keep repeating His teaching.
He taught divine truth with simplicity and authority in a plain, direct, clear and distinct manner, making every point clear and not bringing many things at once lest minds be confused, even repeating old and familiar prophetic truths to inculcate ideas. Identifying Himself with human interests, He aroused minds through their most familiar associations and called into activity their most hallowed recollections and sympathies to reach the inner temple of the soul. He broke up the accustomed train of thought as little as possible while weaving a new and transforming economy of truth into experience, taking the springing up of the seed and the harvesting of the grain from the great book of nature as familiar illustrations drawn from objects His hearers knew well, giving vital force and impressiveness to every utterance.
By that linking of nature and life experience with the written word, afterward whenever eyes rest on growing grain the lesson is repeated as a living reality. Sowing and planting, the seed's germination, growth in its season, and the harvest illustrate principles students should learn from daily life, and this familiar image communicates His truths in simple terms and repeats them until impressed on the mind. The scenes of nature and the affairs of daily life thus keep repeating His teaching to all who have once heard, so that looking upon growing grain reminds them of His lesson.
This wonderful process holds much to learn and understand, and improving the mind to the utmost to study God's ways and works seen in it leads to knowing Him more and more through the eternal ages. The growth of the seed from first blade to ear to ripe grain teaches the mysteries of God's kingdom, reveals God at work in nature, and represents truths about the kingdom of heaven. The earth bringing forth fruit does not mean nature acts independently, for God gives power to soil and seed and works unseen while human skill and labor cooperate, and the daily work of sowing, cultivating and harvesting makes the lesson plain.
Growing Christian Character Gradually
Sanctification is not instantaneous but gradual, continual growth through successive stages toward mature, perfect Christian character. As the plant develops from blade to ear to ripe grain, truth rooted in the heart bears fruit through divine grace, with the Spirit's sanctifying influence leading toward righteousness and readiness for harvest. This growth requires a lifetime of daily practice and learning in daily duties, with always more to learn and higher attainment to reach, and the soul is gathered only when its fruit is ripe and the life-work is complete. There is no point in the Christian life when learning and growth are finished, so a soul must keep growing or decline, for progression and not stagnation is the law of heaven over every faculty of mind and body. Those who repent instead of becoming discouraged and giving up remain as good seed in good ground, resisting a wily foe constantly seeking to draw them away, advancing by learning duty and walking in obedience to God's holy will.
Christian character may be complete at each stage while still advancing toward God's purpose. Growth is quiet and gradual but continuous, and where there is life there must be growth, for a living plant must grow or die. As opportunities and privileges increase, experience and knowledge grow, strength to bear responsibility develops, and maturity corresponds to what is received. The spiritual life as well as the physical life must grow step by step, ever receiving and imparting, ever gaining a more complete knowledge of Christ and daily coming nearer to the measure of His full stature. The Christian begins as a babe and becomes a child, and must constantly advance in proportion to opportunities and privileges, doing his best even in the infancy of spiritual understanding, realizing that Christ cooperates with him, refusing self-exaltation and counting all else loss for the excellency of knowing Christ.
Growth does not come by anxious effort, for the seed does not bring itself to maturity by striving but unfolds in stages from blade to ear to ripe grain through life and power God provides. People cannot secure spiritual growth by their own striving but receive it through Christ, who sustains life as nourishment and light sustain plants. As the believer humbly rests on Christ and receives the Holy Spirit's influence through unseen and supernatural agency, fruit comes forth unto eternal life. This growth proceeds silently and often imperceptibly rather than consisting in noisy shouting or bodily contortions. Bible truth received into the heart and nourished instead refines the taste, sanctifies the judgment, and develops a modest, meek, and lowly character, with the life hidden in the seed and healthy growth depending on nourishment.
The Word of God is the living, germinating seed sown in the mind and heart. After it has been carefully and prayerfully received, it must be given diligent care, cherished and practiced in the daily life, springing up and bearing fruit first the blade, then the ear, and then the full corn in the ear. Though the seed appears to be discarded when buried, it germinates, and God's living power gives it life and vitality. This advancement comes through sharing the divine nature, beginning with being born again of imperishable seed. The stages illustrate character being formed after Christ's pattern, with Christ's presence becoming visible in fruits and good works, and the life and character revealing the nature and measure of the seed sown.
The harvest God seeks is Christ's character reproduced in followers, and through them reproduced in others. Like grain grown to provide seed for sowing and bread for the hungry, lives are to provide spiritual nourishment and seed for future growth, for the Christian is not to live for self but to represent Christ and serve others. When Christ lives in a person, His character brings forth the fruits of the Spirit in differing measure, thirty, sixty, or a hundredfold. This constant, gentle work of truth toward perfection of human character moves steadily forward and is carried forward by firm, divine, supernatural agency rather than human power. It proves whether religion is truly growing or self is so predominant that the Lord cannot work with human efforts.
The seed must be hidden in the ground and appear lost before growth to harvest can occur. This illustrates how Christ's death would bring life and a multiplied harvest for God's kingdom, the redeemed multitude from every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, who will live through the ages. The stages of earthly growth likewise teach how God renews the heart and point to the resurrection of the body, while human beings plant but God gives the seed life and growth through His creative word and provision.
Childhood Growth in Stages
The blade is childhood, and like every stage of growth it has a beauty, freshness, simplicity and grace of its own. Children are therefore to be allowed to remain childlike and to keep the freshness and grace of their early years, growing through the duties, pleasures and experiences suited to their years. They are not to be hurried or pushed into maturity before their time nor into precocious maturity.
Even He who was the Majesty of heaven and King of glory followed this divine order, becoming a babe in Bethlehem and a helpless infant in His mother's care. As a child He spoke and acted with a child's wisdom and not as a man, honoring His parents and carrying out their wishes in helpful ways according to the ability of a child. He continually grew in grace and knowledge of truth, and at each stage of His development He was perfect with the simple, natural grace of a sinless life.
Parents and teachers are to cultivate the tendencies of youth so that at each stage of life they represent the natural beauty appropriate to that period, unfolding naturally as plants and flowers in a garden. Their part is to prepare the heart and faithfully sow and tend the seeds of truth through patient effort, while God gives life to what is sown and brings it to maturity. Good traits and truth carefully tended in a child's heart develop progressively rather than appearing naturally, and the seed may remain hidden for a time before it springs up into quiet, often imperceptible but continuous growth of character that they cannot understand or control but must trust God to harvest.
The farmer can plow and sow but cannot make the seed grow, for God supplies the life and power that bring it from the hard ground to fruitfulness through blade, then ear, then full grain. That natural growth teaches children that growth in grace also depends on God's power and care, which no human effort can supply. In this way the plant illustrates growth in grace and teaches about the Creator, showing how principles sown in the heart develop into character.
Sowing Truth to Harvest
The work of the Lord may begin in weakness, with a small beginning and slow progress, yet when it is begun in a healthy manner it advances steadily toward substantial growth. The stages of first the blade, then the ear, and finally the full grain show that great advancement requires a beginning and develops over time. God watches over the good seed even when soul-saving work is carried forward at first amid great difficulty, so there is no reason for discouragement. Truth planted through unselfish labor grows gradually from blade to ear to mature grain, and those who sow even in spiritually barren places will see an abundant harvest.
Seed sown amid trial and discouragement remains alive and may later take root and bear fruit when adversity or changing circumstances bring the truth back to mind. Rejection by some can prepare others to receive the truth, so opposition may advance rather than hinder its growth. Work that appears unsuccessful may prepare the way for later messengers, for opposition or rejection can lead others to recognize the weakness of arguments against the truth and receive it, and a later messenger may gather what earlier laborers sowed.
The same pattern holds in the work of conversion unfolding from blade to ear to full grain, in which converted Jews will help prepare the way for Christ and God-appointed people converted to the truth will contribute to a nation being born in a day. In the Reformation the seed Luther sowed sprouted and developed until it bore fruit, spreading widely and keeping on growing even while he was absent. The good seed sown in the South will likewise be watched over by God to spring up and bring forth an abundant harvest. Believers are to expand and progress through these stages, gathering people for the Master's kingdom rather than devoting themselves only to earthly things.
The harvest of the school farm illustrates this gradual process, with the land yielding its produce through God's blessing from blade to ear to full grain. The great Sower plants and tends His seed, and the produce with its stages of growth is an object lesson in how spiritual results develop over time for the needs of the soul. The growing crops are a lesson-book by which nature's processes make spiritual lessons plain and apply them to the soul. The lesson is made plain in the daily work of sowing, cultivating, and harvesting, in which God gives power to soil and seed and works unseen in nature while human skill and labor cooperate with that divine agency, pointing to His work in the kingdom of heaven.
The earth produces its crop by a gradual, ordered process, first the green blade, then the head of grain, then the ripe grain in the head. The life that drives that growth is hidden in the seed and given by God alone, so people can prepare, plant, tend and cultivate but cannot make anything live or grow. Human work still matters, for God gives sunshine, dew and rain while the worker must sow at the right time and patiently watch, pray and wait for the harvest. In the same way Christian character is not made in a moment but grows quietly and continually through successive stages, as the word of God received in the heart springs up into a life that bears fruit for others. Even childhood has its own appointed beauty, for Jesus Himself grew from helpless infancy to mature wisdom, showing that each stage can be complete while still leading on to greater maturity.
Gradual Order of Growth
The kingdom grows by a fixed and gradual order, as a planted crop moves from sprout to head to ripe grain. The seed develops in stages that cannot be hurried or reversed, first the green blade, then the ear, and after that the mature grain in the ear. That advance lies beyond human power to produce, for people can prepare the soil, sow, and tend the field, but only God gives the seed its life and brings it to maturity. The stalk reaches ripeness in its proper season under God's law and control because, unlike rebellious people, it does not resist His working.
The ground producing fruit by itself does not mean nature acts on its own, but that the seed unfolds by life and laws imparted by Christ. He gave the seed its life and properties, gives power to soil and seed, and works unseen to make them fruitful, while human skill and labor still have their appointed part. In that process the seed gives its own life to the blade and then to the ear, and the ear in turn holds seed for another planting. This natural development is a living illustration of how truth grows in both the natural and the spiritual world.
The seed must be buried in the earth, where it appears thrown away and lost and may remain hidden for a time before it germinates. It springs up by the vitality of God's living power and then grows in a quiet and often imperceptible yet continuous way. That growth proceeds beyond the sower's knowledge and control, and where there is life there must be growth or there is no life. Christian life follows the same pattern, complete in its way at each stage yet still advancing toward God's fuller purpose.
As a crop matures by successive stages, Scripture was not given in one continuous chain of unbroken utterances but piece by piece through successive generations. It came as God in providence saw fitting opportunity to impress people at different times and places through men moved by the Holy Spirit. What is sown does not mean good seed alone, for evil ideas and error planted in the heart also grow by the same staged law. From a small beginning they keep growing step by step until fully developed and spreading, as when seeds of evil from Satanic, spiritualistic, and demoralizing literature take root in apprentices and all who handle it, demoralizing minds, destroying discernment between truth and error, and causing souls to be lost.
God Alone Gives Life
Only God gives the seed its life and vitality and brings it to maturity through stages from blade to ear to ripe grain. The seed has no power of itself but holds a God-given principle of life, and its growth and the connection between sowing and harvest depend on His power. People can prepare the soil, sow, tend the field, plow, and help promote growth, but they cannot make a living plant grow or supply what makes it spring from hard ground to fruitfulness, and their ability has limits.
God works through unseen agencies and the properties He put in the soil, bringing the seed to life and to harvest by rain, sunshine, dew, showers, and the air. He gives the seed life and sends sunshine, dew, and rain with sunshine and living water from Himself as the Source of truth, and He brings the grain to maturity in its proper season under His law, control, and supervision because the plant does not resist His working. The human part is to prepare the ground and plant the seed at the right time and in the right way, while God's part is to give life and cause it to spring up and grow through its stages to harvest, and the same pattern applies to righteousness and cultivation of heart and character through cooperation with Him. If the human agent fails to do his part there will be no harvest despite sun, dew, showers, and rain, and though planting is done the seed will never spring up and grow if God withholds sunshine, dew, and rain.
Nature follows God's direction without resisting His work, and this obedience illustrates the Creator's order. People are made in God's image and given reason and speech, yet they can fail to appreciate His gifts and obey His will, in contrast to grain that matures because it does not resist Him. The stages of growth therefore teach people to cooperate with God rather than produce disorder.
The daily provision of harvest through rain, air, and sunshine is God's work through natural agencies, giving the seed life and carrying it from blade to ear to mature grain. It provides the materials from which people make bread, as they prepare soil, sow, and make bread while recognizing His power behind their work. This familiar process is a continual miracle like the feeding of the multitude, and it calls for gratitude to God and glory to Him for the food He provides rather than credit to human effort or natural causes alone.
The life is hidden in the seed, and healthy growth depends on nourishment given through God's creative word and provision. Truth sown in the heart and nourished develops first like a blade, then an ear, and finally ripe grain, teaching how God renews the heart and pointing to the resurrection of the body. In the spiritual application the former rain gives life and begins growth, while the latter rain ripens the harvest and represents grace preparing the church for the coming of the Son of Man, and the latter rain cannot bring the seed to perfection unless the early showers have first done their work. This growth does not consist in noisy shouting or bodily contortions, but Bible truth refines the taste, sanctifies the judgment, and develops a modest, meek, and lowly character.
Human Work and Cooperation
Cultivation requires cooperation between the human agent and God, for the crop grows in ordered stages from blade to ear to ripe grain by a life beyond human power to produce. The human part is to prepare the ground and plant the seed at the right time and in the right way, and to sow, tend, and cultivate the field, while God's part is to give the seed life and cause it to spring up and grow by sending sunshine, dew, showers, and rain. If the human fails to do his part there will be no harvest despite sun and rain, and though the planting is done the seed will never spring up and grow if God withholds sun, dew, and rain. That the earth brings forth fruit of herself does not mean nature acts independently, for God gives power to the soil and seed while human skill and work also have a part, and the same pattern applies to righteousness in the heart where people must cooperate with God as He works to bring spiritual growth to completion.
Those who sow truth should work patiently while waiting for signs of life, trusting and waiting in faith and hope while watching and praying, since the seed of truth may take time to show life as a crop develops first the blade, then the ear, and finally the full grain. Possessing the Word creates responsibility to impart it, so the work must advance solidly without haste, teaching in the simplest possible way with plain pictures and walking and working in trust. Visible results do not by themselves measure a worker's character, for faithful, diligent labor matters even when the harvest is disappointing, while gradual growth in nature depends on unseen agencies and providence and represents truth sown and cultivated in prepared hearts.
Both spiritual growth and temporal harvest require proper, intelligent cultivation with reasoning powers and faith in the Word that created the seed and the earth and the fruit of the earth for the service of man. Workers should not be discouraged about temporal things by apparent failures nor disheartened by delay, but should work the soil cheerfully, hopefully, and gratefully, believing the earth holds in her bosom rich stores for the faithful worker to garner, richer than gold or silver, and that with proper cultivation she will yield her treasures for the benefit of man. The school farm's harvest illustrates this gradual process from blade to ear to full grain, as the land yields its produce through God's blessing and the great Sower plants and tends His seed. The produce and the daily work of sowing, cultivating, and harvesting are a lesson-book in which sowing and planting, germination, growth in its season, and harvest make spiritual lessons plain and apply them to the needs of the soul and to principles students should learn from daily life.
The tender blade of truth must be able to reach the surface and grow, so truth must not be planted so deeply through overcomplication that the blade never emerges. Presenting a subject with excessive depth or detail can bury the seed too deeply.
Teaching Truth Through Nature
Jesus drew this picture from the farmer's work and the familiar events of everyday life to teach the most sublime truths of the kingdom of God, showing love for the beautiful in nature and making natural life the source of spiritual lessons. He associated natural things with spiritual things and linked nature and the life experience of His hearers with the truths of the written word, so that afterward whenever the eyes rest on those natural objects His lesson is repeated. Taking the growing seed from daily life to illustrate immortal truth, He gave an illustration simple in form yet of wonderful depth of meaning, so that once heard the truth becomes a living reality because the scenes of nature and the affairs of daily life keep repeating His teaching.
He taught divine truth with simplicity and authority in a plain, direct, clear and distinct manner, making every point clear and not bringing many things at once lest minds be confused, even repeating old and familiar prophetic truths to inculcate ideas. Identifying Himself with human interests, He aroused minds through their most familiar associations and called into activity their most hallowed recollections and sympathies to reach the inner temple of the soul. He broke up the accustomed train of thought as little as possible while weaving a new and transforming economy of truth into experience, taking the springing up of the seed and the harvesting of the grain from the great book of nature as familiar illustrations drawn from objects His hearers knew well, giving vital force and impressiveness to every utterance.
By that linking of nature and life experience with the written word, afterward whenever eyes rest on growing grain the lesson is repeated as a living reality. Sowing and planting, the seed's germination, growth in its season, and the harvest illustrate principles students should learn from daily life, and this familiar image communicates His truths in simple terms and repeats them until impressed on the mind. The scenes of nature and the affairs of daily life thus keep repeating His teaching to all who have once heard, so that looking upon growing grain reminds them of His lesson.
This wonderful process holds much to learn and understand, and improving the mind to the utmost to study God's ways and works seen in it leads to knowing Him more and more through the eternal ages. The growth of the seed from first blade to ear to ripe grain teaches the mysteries of God's kingdom, reveals God at work in nature, and represents truths about the kingdom of heaven. The earth bringing forth fruit does not mean nature acts independently, for God gives power to soil and seed and works unseen while human skill and labor cooperate, and the daily work of sowing, cultivating and harvesting makes the lesson plain.
Growing Christian Character Gradually
Sanctification is not instantaneous but gradual, continual growth through successive stages toward mature, perfect Christian character. As the plant develops from blade to ear to ripe grain, truth rooted in the heart bears fruit through divine grace, with the Spirit's sanctifying influence leading toward righteousness and readiness for harvest. This growth requires a lifetime of daily practice and learning in daily duties, with always more to learn and higher attainment to reach, and the soul is gathered only when its fruit is ripe and the life-work is complete. There is no point in the Christian life when learning and growth are finished, so a soul must keep growing or decline, for progression and not stagnation is the law of heaven over every faculty of mind and body. Those who repent instead of becoming discouraged and giving up remain as good seed in good ground, resisting a wily foe constantly seeking to draw them away, advancing by learning duty and walking in obedience to God's holy will.
Christian character may be complete at each stage while still advancing toward God's purpose. Growth is quiet and gradual but continuous, and where there is life there must be growth, for a living plant must grow or die. As opportunities and privileges increase, experience and knowledge grow, strength to bear responsibility develops, and maturity corresponds to what is received. The spiritual life as well as the physical life must grow step by step, ever receiving and imparting, ever gaining a more complete knowledge of Christ and daily coming nearer to the measure of His full stature. The Christian begins as a babe and becomes a child, and must constantly advance in proportion to opportunities and privileges, doing his best even in the infancy of spiritual understanding, realizing that Christ cooperates with him, refusing self-exaltation and counting all else loss for the excellency of knowing Christ.
Growth does not come by anxious effort, for the seed does not bring itself to maturity by striving but unfolds in stages from blade to ear to ripe grain through life and power God provides. People cannot secure spiritual growth by their own striving but receive it through Christ, who sustains life as nourishment and light sustain plants. As the believer humbly rests on Christ and receives the Holy Spirit's influence through unseen and supernatural agency, fruit comes forth unto eternal life. This growth proceeds silently and often imperceptibly rather than consisting in noisy shouting or bodily contortions. Bible truth received into the heart and nourished instead refines the taste, sanctifies the judgment, and develops a modest, meek, and lowly character, with the life hidden in the seed and healthy growth depending on nourishment.
The Word of God is the living, germinating seed sown in the mind and heart. After it has been carefully and prayerfully received, it must be given diligent care, cherished and practiced in the daily life, springing up and bearing fruit first the blade, then the ear, and then the full corn in the ear. Though the seed appears to be discarded when buried, it germinates, and God's living power gives it life and vitality. This advancement comes through sharing the divine nature, beginning with being born again of imperishable seed. The stages illustrate character being formed after Christ's pattern, with Christ's presence becoming visible in fruits and good works, and the life and character revealing the nature and measure of the seed sown.
The harvest God seeks is Christ's character reproduced in followers, and through them reproduced in others. Like grain grown to provide seed for sowing and bread for the hungry, lives are to provide spiritual nourishment and seed for future growth, for the Christian is not to live for self but to represent Christ and serve others. When Christ lives in a person, His character brings forth the fruits of the Spirit in differing measure, thirty, sixty, or a hundredfold. This constant, gentle work of truth toward perfection of human character moves steadily forward and is carried forward by firm, divine, supernatural agency rather than human power. It proves whether religion is truly growing or self is so predominant that the Lord cannot work with human efforts.
The seed must be hidden in the ground and appear lost before growth to harvest can occur. This illustrates how Christ's death would bring life and a multiplied harvest for God's kingdom, the redeemed multitude from every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, who will live through the ages. The stages of earthly growth likewise teach how God renews the heart and point to the resurrection of the body, while human beings plant but God gives the seed life and growth through His creative word and provision.
Childhood Growth in Stages
The blade is childhood, and like every stage of growth it has a beauty, freshness, simplicity and grace of its own. Children are therefore to be allowed to remain childlike and to keep the freshness and grace of their early years, growing through the duties, pleasures and experiences suited to their years. They are not to be hurried or pushed into maturity before their time nor into precocious maturity.
Even He who was the Majesty of heaven and King of glory followed this divine order, becoming a babe in Bethlehem and a helpless infant in His mother's care. As a child He spoke and acted with a child's wisdom and not as a man, honoring His parents and carrying out their wishes in helpful ways according to the ability of a child. He continually grew in grace and knowledge of truth, and at each stage of His development He was perfect with the simple, natural grace of a sinless life.
Parents and teachers are to cultivate the tendencies of youth so that at each stage of life they represent the natural beauty appropriate to that period, unfolding naturally as plants and flowers in a garden. Their part is to prepare the heart and faithfully sow and tend the seeds of truth through patient effort, while God gives life to what is sown and brings it to maturity. Good traits and truth carefully tended in a child's heart develop progressively rather than appearing naturally, and the seed may remain hidden for a time before it springs up into quiet, often imperceptible but continuous growth of character that they cannot understand or control but must trust God to harvest.
The farmer can plow and sow but cannot make the seed grow, for God supplies the life and power that bring it from the hard ground to fruitfulness through blade, then ear, then full grain. That natural growth teaches children that growth in grace also depends on God's power and care, which no human effort can supply. In this way the plant illustrates growth in grace and teaches about the Creator, showing how principles sown in the heart develop into character.
Sowing Truth to Harvest
The work of the Lord may begin in weakness, with a small beginning and slow progress, yet when it is begun in a healthy manner it advances steadily toward substantial growth. The stages of first the blade, then the ear, and finally the full grain show that great advancement requires a beginning and develops over time. God watches over the good seed even when soul-saving work is carried forward at first amid great difficulty, so there is no reason for discouragement. Truth planted through unselfish labor grows gradually from blade to ear to mature grain, and those who sow even in spiritually barren places will see an abundant harvest.
Seed sown amid trial and discouragement remains alive and may later take root and bear fruit when adversity or changing circumstances bring the truth back to mind. Rejection by some can prepare others to receive the truth, so opposition may advance rather than hinder its growth. Work that appears unsuccessful may prepare the way for later messengers, for opposition or rejection can lead others to recognize the weakness of arguments against the truth and receive it, and a later messenger may gather what earlier laborers sowed.
The same pattern holds in the work of conversion unfolding from blade to ear to full grain, in which converted Jews will help prepare the way for Christ and God-appointed people converted to the truth will contribute to a nation being born in a day. In the Reformation the seed Luther sowed sprouted and developed until it bore fruit, spreading widely and keeping on growing even while he was absent. The good seed sown in the South will likewise be watched over by God to spring up and bring forth an abundant harvest. Believers are to expand and progress through these stages, gathering people for the Master's kingdom rather than devoting themselves only to earthly things.
The harvest of the school farm illustrates this gradual process, with the land yielding its produce through God's blessing from blade to ear to full grain. The great Sower plants and tends His seed, and the produce with its stages of growth is an object lesson in how spiritual results develop over time for the needs of the soul. The growing crops are a lesson-book by which nature's processes make spiritual lessons plain and apply them to the soul. The lesson is made plain in the daily work of sowing, cultivating, and harvesting, in which God gives power to soil and seed and works unseen in nature while human skill and labor cooperate with that divine agency, pointing to His work in the kingdom of heaven.