The manifestation of the gospel, Mark 4:21-34

In this chapter, Mark has given us a small collection of parables which Jesus taught during His ministry.  Last time, we looked at the first one, which is the parable of the soils.  Today we will look at four more.  Parables are physical illustrations of spiritual truth.  Pastor’s and teachers today often make use of illustrations as an attempt to help people understand a biblical principle or doctrine.  However, that is not really the purpose of a parable.  

Notice in vs.11,12 that Jesus indicates a different purpose in using parables.  He is not necessarily trying to illustrate truth more clearly, but rather to teach truth while at the same time keeping the unbelieving from understanding it.  Listen to what He says to the disciples in vs.11, "To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but those who are outside get everything in parables, 12 so that WHILE SEEING, THEY MAY SEE AND NOT PERCEIVE, AND WHILE HEARING, THEY MAY HEAR AND NOT UNDERSTAND, OTHERWISE THEY MIGHT RETURN AND BE FORGIVEN.”

Now that sounds counterintuitive, doesn’t it? That Jesus in a sense would use a parable to camouflage the truth.  But the fact is, that spiritual truth is disclosed as a matter of progressive revelation.  It requires belief, and acceptance, but also it requires one to act upon it before God discloses more truth.  There is a verse in Psalms 119:105 which speaks to this principle of progressive revelation;  “Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.”  In other words, as truth is disclosed to you, you must take the step of obedience in regards to that truth, and then God will shine the light on the next step, which again must be acted upon to proceed down the path to spiritual enlightenment.  Notice how the psalmist compares truth to light, which only lights the next step along the path.  You must walk in it to continue in the light. 

So it is in a parable - spiritual illumination is necessary.  Without the guidance of the Spirit, you cannot understand the teaching of the parable.  It may seem to make sense on a physical level, because it is couched in a physical metaphor, but you cannot glean the spiritual sense without spiritual illumination from God, either in the person of Jesus Christ, or by the Holy Spirit.  The disciples had Jesus to explain the spiritual meaning of the parables to them.  The multitudes that were not interested in spiritual truth, but were only there for the entertainment value of the miracles did not have that benefit. Notice vs34, “and He did not speak to them without a parable; but He was explaining everything privately to His own disciples.” So there came a point in Jesus’s ministry when the crowds were massing around Him to see the miracles, in which He uses parables to teach them, while at the same time veiling the deeper spiritual meaning from those who would not believe in Him.

Now that is a principle of faith that we might have a hard time with because it seems unfair or discriminatory.  Why are unbelievers blind to the truth of the gospel?  And yet this is what the Bible teaches.  The Bible says the just shall live by faith and not by sight.  2Cor. 4:3-4 says,  “But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing,  whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.”

So before someone can believe, there must be a divine awakening by the Spirit of God whereby they are given spiritual eyes to see.  And we are going to see this principle of spiritual illumination taught again and again in these parables we are looking at today.  The necessity of spiritual illumination.  And in that regard, we are going to see that only when that spiritual illumination is in place will there be the manifestation of spiritual life.  

Let’s jump into the first one then and see how Jesus presents this. Vs. 21 And [Jesus] was saying to them, "A lamp is not brought to be put under a basket, is it, or under a bed? Is it not brought to be put on the lampstand? For nothing is hidden, except to be revealed; nor has anything been secret, but that it would come to light. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Now remember that our pattern for understanding this parable is found in the first parable of the soils.  Jesus said in vs.13 if you don’t understand that first one, you won’t understand any of the parables.  And the key to understanding the first one is that Jesus identifies the seed as the word of God.  If He had not told us that key, we could easily go off in a hundred different directions in interpretation.  We might think the first parable was about being a good steward of our resources and not being wasteful.  But when we know that the seed planted is the word of God, then we can begin to understand the spiritual principle being taught.  

In like manner, we have to look at this parable with the same kind of discernment.  In fact, notice that Jesus uses the same closing statement in this parable as He did in the parable of the soils.  He says in vs. 23, “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”  That’s almost identical as the phrase in vs.9.  In other words, listen carefully with spiritual discernment.  If you have spiritual ears, listen carefully that you might understand fully.  

So what then is the lamp which is depicted in this next parable?  We have already seen in Psalms 119 that the lamp is the word of God just as the seed was the word of God in the first parable.  Another important text that supports this is found in John 1:1-5, 9 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.  All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.  In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.  The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. ...  There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.”

So there you have it, the Word is the Light, which enlightens every man.  I would suggest then that the lamp is the Incarnate Word of God which man accepts into His heart by believing in Jesus Christ as His Savior and Lord.  This word then is given to us that we might live in that light and walk in that light, and reflect that light of God to the world.   Jesus is saying that this light was not given to us that we might hide it, but that we would shine it out to the world.  

Now that is not just talking about evangelism.  I think we can consider it in light of the parable of the soils, in that the fruit which the seed produces is in the likeness of the same.  In other words, Jesus who is the Word is planted in us and this seed brings forth fruit which looks like Jesus.  So the fruit of the Spirit is to look like Jesus.  Just as the seed of an apple produces an apple, so does the light of the Word produce the image of Jesus Christ in us.  We exhibit His character and His nature as a result of receiving the word implanted.  Psalm 36:9, “In thy light we see light.”  

That same principle is taught here; that as Jesus is the Light, shining the truth of God to the world, the very reflection of God, so we are to reflect Jesus Christ to the world.  The Spirit of God was given to us that we might look like and act like and speak like Jesus.  Not that we might feign lip service to God on Sunday, but put Him under a bushel basket the rest of the week.  Not simply that we might only hand out a couple of tracks and think that we have fulfilled our purpose, but that we might do the works of God and speak and act like Christ as the light of truth leads us to walk in the light.  1John 1:7 “but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” That is the testimony that God desires from us.  To be holy even as He is holy.

And then in vs 22, “For nothing is hidden, except to be revealed; nor has anything been secret, but that it would come to light.”  That means then that if you have the Light of God in you, then He cannot stay hidden.  He will produce light.  There will be a corresponding reflection of Jesus Christ by your life.  Your salvation will not, cannot stay hidden.  

That segue’s into the next parable, or simile in vs24, And He was saying to them, "Take care what you listen to. By your standard of measure it will be measured to you; and more will be given you besides. For whoever has, to him more shall be given; and whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.” 

Here is the same principle further explained.  If you do not believe the Light that has been revealed to you, then what light you have will be taken away from you. According to Romans 1 God will give you over to a reprobate mind. Romans 1:21 “For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.”  The light is taken away.  On the other hand, if you have believed the Light of the Word, then more light will be given. That light produces life.  You will not only have life, but you will have it more abundantly.  You will have eternal life.  

So then, Jesus said, take care what you listen to.  What does He mean by that?  Well, it’s easy to understand if you remember He is talking about the word of God.  If you receive the word of God, and act upon it, and follow it’s light, then you will be given more light, you will be given more life.  But if you listen to the lies of the devil, to the lies of the world, then you will remain in darkness.  That darkness leads to depravity and depravity to destruction.   

Be careful then what you listen to.  Romans 10:17 says, “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”  Conversely, false teaching comes by hearing, and it produces apostasy. 

So then, by your standard of measure it will be measured to you. How you receive the truth of God will determine to what degree you are given truth.  A good way of understanding that is how you are obedient to the truth.  As you are obedient, to that measure, more will be given to you in the same measure.  The more you follow the truth, in the same measure  God will reveal to you truth.  There is a progressive nature to biblical revelation that is contingent upon your obedience.   In other words, you cannot walk a yard in your faith and expect a mile in your sanctification. No, but as you walk a yard in your faith, God will grant you a yard’s worth of sanctification. The walk in the Spirit is a walk of progressive sanctification.  But it is a walk, none the less.  Our salvation was never intended to be stagnant.  One leap of faith and then still for the rest of your life. The Bible says we are to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. Far too many people claim to have received the truth of salvation, but they have never continued in that light.  They haven’t grown an inch since supposedly they were converted.  That is not what the Bible teaches constitutes spiritual life.  As James 2 declares, we are to show our faith by our works.

Now we must move on to the next parable quickly.  Vs26 And He was saying, "The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil;  and he goes to bed at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts and grows--how, he himself does not know.  The soil produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head. But when the crop permits, he immediately puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

Here again, Jesus is teaching the same principle while at the same time elaborating on it even more.  Once again we see the man sowing seed into the soil.  And in this case, there is only one soil presented.  It’s obviously the good soil, because it produces a crop.  So we know already from the parable of the soils that the seed is the word of God, and the soil is the human soul or heart.  

What Jesus is teaching here is that this spiritual illumination that comes through the word of God activated by the Spirit of God causes a spiritual growth which cannot be seen physically, or even understood from a natural point of view, but which is happening nonetheless because of divine germination in the heart of man.  In this parable again, we see the kingdom of God is manifested.  First, the word is planted.  And in the process of maturity spiritual life is revealed.  It is a mystery.  It is something accomplished through the Spirit of God in the human soul.  Without this divine insemination of spiritual life, there can be no growth.  But because of the spiritual seed implanted, it bears forth spiritual things.  

I want to make sure that you all understand what the kingdom of God is.  It is a spiritual kingdom, whereby God rules in the hearts of man.  Jesus came to establish the kingdom of God upon the earth, and He did so by planting the word of God in our hearts, by which they were transformed spiritually, so that we might be the family of God; spiritual sons and daughters of God.  Thus nations and empires and races and nationalities have no means of restricting this spiritual kingdom.  God reigns in the hearts of His people throughout the world.  

We need to be careful then in interpreting this parable that we do not try to make it say more than what it is intended.  It’s not talking about the rapture, it’s not talking about the second coming, it’s not talking about producing salvation in yourself.  But what it is picturing is again a planting and a growth.  The harvest simply represents the culmination of spiritual growth and maturity that will come if in fact there has been a true planting of the gospel in the heart of the believer. It’s talking about sanctification, as Hebrews 12:14 tells us, without which no one will see the Lord

Now let’s turn our attention to the last parable.  And this particular one is the subject of much disagreement among commentators and Bible teachers.  But I think the earlier statement by Christ in vs24  alludes to how we should approach this parable.  Notice His statement back in vs.24, “Take care what you listen to. By your standard of measure it will be measured to you; and more will be given you besides. For whoever has, to him more shall be given; and whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.”

In that statement, I believe Christ alludes to both a positive and negative consequences of what you listen to.  If you receive the truth of the gospel, there will be a positive growth and manifestation of the truth in your life.  But if you listen to false teaching, there will be a subsequent aberrant growth that is not spiritual, but physical.

Now I think that is illustrated in this next parable, and you can almost sense that this one is different in the way Jesus introduces it.  He says, “How shall we picture or literally, how shall we compare the kingdom of God, or by what parable shall we present it?”  So Jesus is indicating there is a contrasting nature to this parable of the kingdom of God.  And so I think that it illustrates what I call a duality of manifestation.  

And what I mean by that is that there are two kinds of growth represented in this parable.  Notice that the first one seems to follow the normal pattern established so far in the others.  Once again, there is a seed which is sown.  We have seen that in two others in this passage.  The seed is the word of God.  But in this case, Jesus describes the seed as a mustard seed which is smaller, He said, than the other seeds sown in the garden, yet when it is grown in is larger than all the other plants in the garden.

Now in a natural environment a mustard seed produces a mustard bush, usually just a few feet tall.  But in Matthew and Luke’s parallel account in their gospels, the mustard seed becomes a tree.  Mark just says it grows up larger than all the other plants and has large branches.  So we can assume that what Jesus is saying is that this mustard seed produces an abnormally large plant, actually it becomes a tree which is large enough for the birds of the air to nest in it’s branches.  

Now as I said, there is some controversy about this.  A superficial reading might conclude that Jesus is saying that the kingdom of God starts out small and then grows very large which sounds desireable.  But a more careful interpretation in keeping with the metaphors taught in the previous parables would indicate that in fact, Jesus is saying that there is an abnormality to the growth of the kingdom.  It has become much larger than what would naturally occur.  And furthermore, in the parable of the soils, which remember Jesus said we must learn in order to interpret the other parables, in that parable the birds of the air were identified as the devil and his angels who ate up the seed which fell beside the road.  

Now if we were to keep our metaphors consistent, then in this case, would not the birds nesting in the branches be a picture of the devil and his angels finding refuge in the branches of the church universal?  I would argue that it is in keeping with the principles set forth.  Furthermore, though Jesus said that the gospel would be proclaimed throughout the earth, yet He also said in Matthew 7:14  that “the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”   So from a spiritual perspective, large, abnormal growth is not the kind of growth that is consistent with the Biblical paradigm of the church.

So it would seem that Jesus is saying that the church will grow into an organization that exceeds the design of God, and in fact harbors and gives shelter to false doctrines and doctrines of devils.  The kingdom of God, Jesus said, has vessels for honor and some for dishonor.  Every knee will bow and every knee will confess that Jesus is Lord.  But not all will be saved.  Jesus said after My departure, many false prophets will arise in the church.  Many antichrists, John said, are already at work in the world.  And again in Matthew 7 Jesus says that in that day “many will say to Me, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’”

So then, we can picture the church which is the kingdom of God, exhibiting abnormal growth, and certainly we have seen that in the 2000 years since this parable was spoken.  Yes, the gospel has spread it’s branches throughout the world, but as the seven churches of Revelation illustrate, there are many that have lost their first love, that no longer do the works that they did at first.  And to those apostate churches, or soon to be apostate churches, Jesus says “Repent” or He will remove their lamp stand from their place in the kingdom of God.  

So then let us remember what Jesus said in vs24, ”Take care what you listen to. By your standard of measure it will be measured to you; and more will be given you besides. For whoever has, to him more shall be given; and whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.”

If you have not believed in Jesus Christ unto salvation, if you do not have the Spirit of Truth residing in you, then you cannot walk in the light of truth, nor manifest the light of God.  You will not produce the fruit of righteousness that God requires.  There must first be a planting of the truth of God in your heart, and if that is truly there, then there will be appropriate fruit that follows.  I implore you to examine your hearts today in the light of God’s word that you have heard.  Jesus said in Matthew 7:16,  "You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? "So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. "A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit.”

And if you are indeed made a good tree today by faith in Jesus’s righteousness by the grace of God, then I trust that you are producing good fruit through obedience to the light shown to you in the word of God.  As God has shown you the truth through His word, act upon it.  Be obedient to it.  And to him who has shall more be given.  God will add to you grace upon grace, that you might grow more and more, until we all are conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.  May it be so.  Amen.