Jesus Teaches the Parable of the Sower from a BoatBible World
4:9Mark 4:9
And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
Spoken at the close of the parable of the sower, it is a call to listen carefully and take its teaching to heart rather than merely hear its words. To have ears to hear is to be willing to receive and understand with a good and honest heart, receiving the word with faith and acting upon it. The seed sown is the word of God and is the same, while the result depends on the condition of the soil, which is the heart. Some resist it, some receive it briefly then fall away under trial, and others let cares, riches and pleasures choke it, while those who truly hear receive it deeply, live by it and bring forth fruit thirty, sixty and a hundredfold. Hearers remain free to accept or reject, and those who welcome the light given receive more until their light grows, while those who refuse remain in darkness by their own choice yet need not remain unreceptive.
Parable Setting and Wording
The saying belongs to the parable of the sower, taught to a crowd from a boat by the Sea of Galilee where the seed sown is the word of God. It was spoken early in the morning after a night spent in prayer, seated in a fisherman's boat pulled out a little from shore to teach without interruption a pressing multitude on the beach, patient toward those under temptation and tender toward the sorrowing and disheartened. Lake, mountains, spreading fields, sunlight, sowers and reapers side by side, fruitful valleys, barren rocks, and birds were in plain sight around the hearers. It stands as the closing appeal of the parable, calling hearers to listen carefully and take its teaching to heart.
The call urges attentive hearing that receives the meaning of the parable and not merely its words, heeding what is taught through the truths of God's kingdom and grace sown like seed to bring people back to loyalty to God. It was given when people were rejecting Jesus as Redeemer because He did not fulfill their hopes for a Messiah who would establish a temporal kingdom and exalt their nation. The parable was designed to awaken thought, prompt inquiry, and lead to clearer understanding, with fuller explanation available to those who asked as the disciples did.
Many who heard received and cherished the teaching, while the Pharisees willfully closed their ears and eyes by refusing to understand so that their hearts remained unreachable. Earthly things are thus made a lesson book for spiritual truths, with the scenery and familiar things of nature employed to illustrate deliverance and salvation. Seeing those objects afterward would recall the lessons as daily reminders, the natural sights helping impress the truth on minds and the created world repeating the lessons and speaking eternal truths. In unadorned simplicity the parable remains pure and beautiful.
What True Hearing Means
To hear is more than to listen with the physical ear; it is to receive the word with consecrated ears and a good and honest heart, to understand it, to receive it with faith, and to act upon it, for the word does not profit those who hear without faith and practice. It reproves slowness to grasp Christ's teaching and urges hearers to open their minds and believe. No one is forced into belief or obedience, but all remain free to accept or reject Christ; those who follow Him and accept instruction gain practical knowledge of the kingdom of God, while those who neglect opportunity or refuse the truth remain in darkness by their own choice. Having ears is not enough, for a person must be willing to listen and no one can compel him, so the first essential work is to gain the attention of the people that they may consider the cross and redemption.
Having ears to hear means having a heart to feel and respond to the messages God sends both to believers and to unbelievers. Such ears are found even among unbelievers who have not had great light and have not rejected light and truth, evidenced by shed tears and responding hearts, while those who profess the truth can lack them, being hardened in unbelief and not knowing the time of their visitation. Hearers are responsible when they resist the Spirit and allow hardness of heart or worldly growths to hinder the word, yet they need not remain unreceptive. The response depends on the condition of the heart, and hearers can cooperate in preparing their hearts so that truth can take root and grow. As soil is broken up and weeds are removed for a crop to grow, so repentance prepares the heart, and evil tendencies must be uprooted through choice and earnest effort in the strength of Jesus.
Those who welcome the light given receive more knowledge and privilege until their light grows, and their response can bring salvation to themselves and benefit to others; those who reject it remain in darkness, yield to temptation, and lose even the knowledge they had. Christ taught men to join their own efforts with divine power to overcome sin. The truth is made plain through simple illustrations, and those who truly hear retain its lessons: God's commandments require human kindness, compassion, and love, and Christ's righteousness stands against false interpretations and traditions.
Hearts Soils and Harvest
The closing call to hear bids listeners to attend to the parable and take its meaning to heart, for the parable sets forth the different kinds of human hearts that were taught and explains why so much teaching produced so little immediate result. People were left free to accept or reject, never forced into belief or obedience, and receiving depended on the heart. They were taught to join their own effort with divine power in order to overcome sin.
In the parable the seed and the sower remain the same while the differing results turn entirely on the soil, and the seed sown is the word of God through which the truths of the kingdom and grace are sown to bring people back to loyalty. Hearing the truth does not itself secure keeping it, for some resist it, some receive it briefly and then fall away under trial, and others allow worldly cares, riches, and pleasures to choke it. Genuine hearing receives the truth deeply enough to live by it and bear fruit.
The teaching stirred its hearers, making the gospel attractive and understandable so that a new and holier life seemed desirable. Yet for some the impression soon faded amid worldly cares, temptations, and unfavorable surroundings when they returned to daily life. Others kept the lesson in mind, carried its principles into daily life, and entered upon a holier life.
Those who hear and receive the truth may bear fruit afterward, help save others, and hand the instruction on to future generations. Seed on good ground brings forth fruit, some thirty, some sixty, and some a hundredfold, while seed on poor soil yields no fruit unto eternal life. The seed may lie dormant for a time, yet God can awaken it to life and make it fruitful, so that truth heard only once may still take root and later bear fruit in conversion, which is why sowing should continue while people are coming to hear.
Hearts can be as hard as the beaten path, but love shown through personal ministry can soften them so the seed of truth takes root. The seed is truth sown in the mind, and because the mind is especially receptive in early life, good seed planted in good soil can bear fruit unto eternal life.
Sowing Work and Application
The call to hear pictures Christ's own work and that of His servants in sowing the gospel seed upon all kinds of soil, where seed on good ground brings forth fruit, some thirty, some sixty, and some a hundredfold, while that falling on poor soil yields no fruit unto eternal life. The sower does not cease his work because some yields nothing, for the message is worldwide and is not to be localized but is to be given to all cities and all villages and proclaimed in the highways and the byways. The seeds of truth are to be sown in every place, and wherever access can be gained the Word is to be held forth, sowing beside all waters, with no discouragement though the result of labor may not be seen at once, by speaking Christ's words, working in His lines, and following His example of going forth everywhere.
Preaching the theory of the truth with its evidences sows seed in souls who listen, and the seed springs up and bears fruit to the glory of God when Christ as the Saviour of the world and the cross of Christ and His redeeming love are exalted in connection with the theory and a practical application is made to the heart. Discourses that are wholly argumentative and do not present the cross leave souls unbalanced, and when some are listening to the last sermon they will ever hear or will never again have the chain of truth brought before them, that golden opportunity lost is lost forever. Sowing truth wherever one goes calls people to listen attentively and heed the truth and requires careful, prayerful study of the Bible. Because seed of truth heard only once may yet take root in a heart and later bear fruit in conversion, when people are coming to hear, meetings should continue so the seed can be sown.
The heart is soil that must be carefully prepared for the Sower to scatter the good seed, and parents must prepare the soil of their young children's hearts by keeping the moulding of the infant mind in their own hands till eight or ten years of age. They are to make the open air amid flowers and birds the schoolroom and the treasures of nature the textbook, opening God's great book of nature before them as fast as their minds can comprehend it so the lessons will not soon be forgotten, and using time and labor to cultivate their minds and form correct habits instead of following the fashions of the world. In teaching children, truth is sown like seed through plain lessons using objects and nature, and the good these lessons accomplish will be revealed at the great day of God. Teaching is seed sown in the heart that grows and bears fruit unto a harvest, so books of science and philosophy where skepticism is concealed, vague fanciful fairy stories, and works on Scripture subjects that weave in fanciful human interpretations plant a harvest of infidelity that is reaped in the depravity of the human family. Cultivation of the soil and work in garden and field brings children and youth into direct contact with nature and nature's God, and education with flower gardens and lands for cultivation is in accordance with God's directions for the instruction of youth, giving health and happiness and impressions that do not fade because they are associated with objects continually before the eyes.
The first essential work is to get the ears of the people, but having ears is not enough since people must be willing to listen and no one can compel them to hear. In Tasmania this meant people more loyal to their ministers than to God refused to come and listen because their ministers warned them against hearing, so only a few heard the sown seed. Refusing to hear is refusing to contemplate the cross of Calvary and the great plan of redemption, while being willing to see wondrous things out of the law of God gains the soul. Gaining their attention so they can consider the cross and redemption opens the way for the few who hear and accept the truth to teach others until an army is raised up to rally round the standard, for the Lord has a work for each and all to do and not one is excused. It is an appeal to those who are able to hear to listen and heed by reading the Bible and taking seriously its warnings about Satan's deceptions, including false teachings that distort the sanctuary and Christ's ministry of salvation, undermine the atonement, and weaken confidence in Scripture and the doctrines associated with the third angel's message.
Spoken at the close of the parable of the sower, it is a call to listen carefully and take its teaching to heart rather than merely hear its words. To have ears to hear is to be willing to receive and understand with a good and honest heart, receiving the word with faith and acting upon it. The seed sown is the word of God and is the same, while the result depends on the condition of the soil, which is the heart. Some resist it, some receive it briefly then fall away under trial, and others let cares, riches and pleasures choke it, while those who truly hear receive it deeply, live by it and bring forth fruit thirty, sixty and a hundredfold. Hearers remain free to accept or reject, and those who welcome the light given receive more until their light grows, while those who refuse remain in darkness by their own choice yet need not remain unreceptive.
Parable Setting and Wording
The saying belongs to the parable of the sower, taught to a crowd from a boat by the Sea of Galilee where the seed sown is the word of God. It was spoken early in the morning after a night spent in prayer, seated in a fisherman's boat pulled out a little from shore to teach without interruption a pressing multitude on the beach, patient toward those under temptation and tender toward the sorrowing and disheartened. Lake, mountains, spreading fields, sunlight, sowers and reapers side by side, fruitful valleys, barren rocks, and birds were in plain sight around the hearers. It stands as the closing appeal of the parable, calling hearers to listen carefully and take its teaching to heart.
The call urges attentive hearing that receives the meaning of the parable and not merely its words, heeding what is taught through the truths of God's kingdom and grace sown like seed to bring people back to loyalty to God. It was given when people were rejecting Jesus as Redeemer because He did not fulfill their hopes for a Messiah who would establish a temporal kingdom and exalt their nation. The parable was designed to awaken thought, prompt inquiry, and lead to clearer understanding, with fuller explanation available to those who asked as the disciples did.
Many who heard received and cherished the teaching, while the Pharisees willfully closed their ears and eyes by refusing to understand so that their hearts remained unreachable. Earthly things are thus made a lesson book for spiritual truths, with the scenery and familiar things of nature employed to illustrate deliverance and salvation. Seeing those objects afterward would recall the lessons as daily reminders, the natural sights helping impress the truth on minds and the created world repeating the lessons and speaking eternal truths. In unadorned simplicity the parable remains pure and beautiful.
What True Hearing Means
To hear is more than to listen with the physical ear; it is to receive the word with consecrated ears and a good and honest heart, to understand it, to receive it with faith, and to act upon it, for the word does not profit those who hear without faith and practice. It reproves slowness to grasp Christ's teaching and urges hearers to open their minds and believe. No one is forced into belief or obedience, but all remain free to accept or reject Christ; those who follow Him and accept instruction gain practical knowledge of the kingdom of God, while those who neglect opportunity or refuse the truth remain in darkness by their own choice. Having ears is not enough, for a person must be willing to listen and no one can compel him, so the first essential work is to gain the attention of the people that they may consider the cross and redemption.
Having ears to hear means having a heart to feel and respond to the messages God sends both to believers and to unbelievers. Such ears are found even among unbelievers who have not had great light and have not rejected light and truth, evidenced by shed tears and responding hearts, while those who profess the truth can lack them, being hardened in unbelief and not knowing the time of their visitation. Hearers are responsible when they resist the Spirit and allow hardness of heart or worldly growths to hinder the word, yet they need not remain unreceptive. The response depends on the condition of the heart, and hearers can cooperate in preparing their hearts so that truth can take root and grow. As soil is broken up and weeds are removed for a crop to grow, so repentance prepares the heart, and evil tendencies must be uprooted through choice and earnest effort in the strength of Jesus.
Those who welcome the light given receive more knowledge and privilege until their light grows, and their response can bring salvation to themselves and benefit to others; those who reject it remain in darkness, yield to temptation, and lose even the knowledge they had. Christ taught men to join their own efforts with divine power to overcome sin. The truth is made plain through simple illustrations, and those who truly hear retain its lessons: God's commandments require human kindness, compassion, and love, and Christ's righteousness stands against false interpretations and traditions.
Hearts Soils and Harvest
The closing call to hear bids listeners to attend to the parable and take its meaning to heart, for the parable sets forth the different kinds of human hearts that were taught and explains why so much teaching produced so little immediate result. People were left free to accept or reject, never forced into belief or obedience, and receiving depended on the heart. They were taught to join their own effort with divine power in order to overcome sin.
In the parable the seed and the sower remain the same while the differing results turn entirely on the soil, and the seed sown is the word of God through which the truths of the kingdom and grace are sown to bring people back to loyalty. Hearing the truth does not itself secure keeping it, for some resist it, some receive it briefly and then fall away under trial, and others allow worldly cares, riches, and pleasures to choke it. Genuine hearing receives the truth deeply enough to live by it and bear fruit.
The teaching stirred its hearers, making the gospel attractive and understandable so that a new and holier life seemed desirable. Yet for some the impression soon faded amid worldly cares, temptations, and unfavorable surroundings when they returned to daily life. Others kept the lesson in mind, carried its principles into daily life, and entered upon a holier life.
Those who hear and receive the truth may bear fruit afterward, help save others, and hand the instruction on to future generations. Seed on good ground brings forth fruit, some thirty, some sixty, and some a hundredfold, while seed on poor soil yields no fruit unto eternal life. The seed may lie dormant for a time, yet God can awaken it to life and make it fruitful, so that truth heard only once may still take root and later bear fruit in conversion, which is why sowing should continue while people are coming to hear.
Hearts can be as hard as the beaten path, but love shown through personal ministry can soften them so the seed of truth takes root. The seed is truth sown in the mind, and because the mind is especially receptive in early life, good seed planted in good soil can bear fruit unto eternal life.
Sowing Work and Application
The call to hear pictures Christ's own work and that of His servants in sowing the gospel seed upon all kinds of soil, where seed on good ground brings forth fruit, some thirty, some sixty, and some a hundredfold, while that falling on poor soil yields no fruit unto eternal life. The sower does not cease his work because some yields nothing, for the message is worldwide and is not to be localized but is to be given to all cities and all villages and proclaimed in the highways and the byways. The seeds of truth are to be sown in every place, and wherever access can be gained the Word is to be held forth, sowing beside all waters, with no discouragement though the result of labor may not be seen at once, by speaking Christ's words, working in His lines, and following His example of going forth everywhere.
Preaching the theory of the truth with its evidences sows seed in souls who listen, and the seed springs up and bears fruit to the glory of God when Christ as the Saviour of the world and the cross of Christ and His redeeming love are exalted in connection with the theory and a practical application is made to the heart. Discourses that are wholly argumentative and do not present the cross leave souls unbalanced, and when some are listening to the last sermon they will ever hear or will never again have the chain of truth brought before them, that golden opportunity lost is lost forever. Sowing truth wherever one goes calls people to listen attentively and heed the truth and requires careful, prayerful study of the Bible. Because seed of truth heard only once may yet take root in a heart and later bear fruit in conversion, when people are coming to hear, meetings should continue so the seed can be sown.
The heart is soil that must be carefully prepared for the Sower to scatter the good seed, and parents must prepare the soil of their young children's hearts by keeping the moulding of the infant mind in their own hands till eight or ten years of age. They are to make the open air amid flowers and birds the schoolroom and the treasures of nature the textbook, opening God's great book of nature before them as fast as their minds can comprehend it so the lessons will not soon be forgotten, and using time and labor to cultivate their minds and form correct habits instead of following the fashions of the world. In teaching children, truth is sown like seed through plain lessons using objects and nature, and the good these lessons accomplish will be revealed at the great day of God. Teaching is seed sown in the heart that grows and bears fruit unto a harvest, so books of science and philosophy where skepticism is concealed, vague fanciful fairy stories, and works on Scripture subjects that weave in fanciful human interpretations plant a harvest of infidelity that is reaped in the depravity of the human family. Cultivation of the soil and work in garden and field brings children and youth into direct contact with nature and nature's God, and education with flower gardens and lands for cultivation is in accordance with God's directions for the instruction of youth, giving health and happiness and impressions that do not fade because they are associated with objects continually before the eyes.
The first essential work is to get the ears of the people, but having ears is not enough since people must be willing to listen and no one can compel them to hear. In Tasmania this meant people more loyal to their ministers than to God refused to come and listen because their ministers warned them against hearing, so only a few heard the sown seed. Refusing to hear is refusing to contemplate the cross of Calvary and the great plan of redemption, while being willing to see wondrous things out of the law of God gains the soul. Gaining their attention so they can consider the cross and redemption opens the way for the few who hear and accept the truth to teach others until an army is raised up to rally round the standard, for the Lord has a work for each and all to do and not one is excused. It is an appeal to those who are able to hear to listen and heed by reading the Bible and taking seriously its warnings about Satan's deceptions, including false teachings that distort the sanctuary and Christ's ministry of salvation, undermine the atonement, and weaken confidence in Scripture and the doctrines associated with the third angel's message.