“So is the Kingdom of God as if a man should cast seed on the ground; and should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself, first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come” (Mark 4:26-2926And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; 27And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. 28For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. 29But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come. (Mark 4:26‑29)). This parable is peculiar to the Second Evangelist. Its point is the non-intervention of the Lord of the harvest with the outward course of Christianity. He Himself was the beginner of the present testimony to God’s grace and goodness, in person during His humiliation, and by means of the Holy Spirit after He ascended on high. The Gospels tell us of His personal labors, Mark concluding with the statement that after His departure the disciples continued the testimony, “the Lord working with them.”
He has thus “cast seed on the ground,” the results being left to the responsibility of men. The reception which has been accorded to the Gospel seed is fully detailed in the parable of the Sower. The greater part of it has been rendered unproductive through the evil of the human heart. But the Lord does not interfere. He remains quiescent for the present in the glory of God. The apparent indifference of the Lord of the harvest has been a frequent cause of perplexity to the godly. They have witnessed the excellent of the earth cast to the lions by the heathen, and tortured in the Inquisition, and burned at the stake by the religious chiefs of Christendom, and their anguished hearts have marveled at the silence of heaven. No angels have appeared for the deliverance of the oppressed, as in the case of imprisoned Peter; and no miracles have been wrought on their behalf as in the day when the three Hebrews were cast into the fiery furnace. “Oh, Lord, how long?” has been the agonized cry of such as have marveled at the triumph of evil, especially in the religious sphere.
For the present, matters are suffered to take their own course. That no purpose of God is failing of its accomplishment is clear from our parable. Fruit is most certainly being produced for God in the world, “‘first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.” Whatever the apparent trend of things, the Gospel is, undoubtedly, winning true hearts for the Saviour Who died and rose again. By and bye He will surround Himself in the Father’s house with the full fruit of His great Calvary sacrifice.
When harvest-time arrives, His attitude of non-intervention will be abandoned, and He will exert Himself in power. Then “He putteth in the sickle.” In that day He will discriminate, as He only can unfailingly, between those who really love His name and those who love Him not. For His own there is prepared a place in the glory above; for all others, whatever their religious profession or ecclesiastical status, there is reserved blackness of darkness forever.