How are things with the kingdom of God in our days?
Around us it seems that the influence of Christianity is becoming less and less.
In church, we still have to wait a long time for all that is perfect. We do not like it.
We would rather see everything happen as an Amazon-order; right away. While you are still ordering, the delivery truck is already honking its horn in front of your house.
That is actually also what we want from God.
If it takes too long, we say: does it have to be that way? Can we not speed it up a little?

The Lord Jesus used a parable to compare the kingdom of God with seed that is sown, that germinates in the ground, grows, and ends in a blade, an ear, and then in ripe grain.

The Sower⤒🔗

In the parable it is not only about a seed that is sown, germinates in the ground, and then comes up and grows. The man who sows is also mentioned. He comes explicitly to the fore in the parable. He sows, goes to sleep, gets up again and harvests the grain as soon as it has ripened.

Who is the sower?

Are they the pastors who in all peace proclaim the Word and trust that everything “by itself” will turn out all right? Are they lazy and casual pastors, who just scatter the seed on the ground and subsequently not look at it anymore, while God still — fortunately! — allows his work to continue? Or are they perhaps the believers who quietly do their work and perhaps must fight against their evil surroundings or against bad church meetings, but who may indeed wait for God’s blessing?

I think that he who sows, is the Son of man, Jesus Christ. It becomes clear from the ending of the parable. The sower is the same as the one who allows for the harvest. And that is: the Lord Jesus. In the book Revelation it is he who allows the sickle to cut the ripe harvest.

The naming of “sower” for the Lord Jesus is remarkable. We are used to it. But the disciples and the multitudes expected something else from him than that he came to sow the seed.

Did not John the Baptist announce him as the Mighty One who would bring in the harvest? He would clear his threshing floor, burn the chaff, and gather the wheat into his barn. That was what Israel expected from their Messiah! He would come to harvest! He would put an end to all injustice and oppression. He would bring his people complete freedom and peace. He would put the crown on God’s work and finish everything.

And now Christ announces himself as a sower! A sobering announcement! With this, the Lord says: it is not time yet for the harvest. First a whole process is to take place. Before he comes to harvest, there must be a good seeding. He does not just randomly judge; there is a time of patience, a time for repentance!

That Christ takes his time, is typical of him. For he is not forced to this by evil powers from outside! We do not hear, after all, about these evil counterforces in this parable. In other parables we hear about thorns that kill the seed, about birds who pick the seed that is sown, about stony ground where the seed is unable to grow roots, and about the evil enemy who sows weeds among the grain.

But in this parable, we do not hear anything of those negative forces! In this parable it is purely and only about the sower and his seed, and about the process, which happens very naturally. Also, apart from evil and counterforces, seed does not turn immediately into an ear of grain. This requires a long process: sowing, germinating, coming up, growing, and ripening.

While this process quietly continues in the ground and on the field, life elsewhere simply continues. The sower is not nervously and impatiently pulling on that early seedling. No, says the Lord, he goes to bed and gets up again, he rests, and he works, one day after another. Life follows its regular course, and the sower is not hurried. The sun rises over the good and the bad, the rain falls on the fields of the righteous and of the unrighteous. No worries and impatience, but quietly working through!

No Perfectionism←⤒🔗

This parable tells us a lot about the manner of Christ’s working, and about the continuation of the kingdom of God. We can grow a lot of impatience! At times, we even call this “‘holy impatience”. Should it not have been harvest-time a long time ago?! Is there not way too much weakness and slowness?! Should we not do something about that?! And whoever does not want that, should they not be expelled?! It is a disease that shows up in various forms. For the one, there is not enough joy and freedom, for the other, there is not enough obedience.

It is true without a doubt that the Bible condemns weakness and slowness. We should not get behind and lose the connection to God’s grace. There is a “now”, a “today” in which we must come to repentance. No one can appeal to the Bible for spiritual laziness or for displaying “having arrived” already! But nowhere does the Bible speed us up to idealism or perfectionism. The Lord is lenient. And he wants us to be like that as well. He forbids us to grasp ahead for the new earth. He forbids us to measure each other for the proper enthusiasm and ideal obedience. He is the God who does not put out the smoking flax wick, and he does not break the bent reed. He does not ask from us faith like an oak tree, but he lets us with faith like a mustard seed, already root up trees.

The kingdom of God is as a seed that is sown, and then comes into a long process of germinating, growing up, expanding, and ripening. The harvest comes later! This is how our God works. He takes the time so that all whom he has chosen, may come to repentance. He can wait for that. A thousand years are to him no more than a single day! That is how grand his patience is.

The Seed Has Been Sown←⤒🔗

In the meantime, the seed has been sown! The parable describes a whole process. Then it comes up and grows, without the sower knowing how. The ground brings forth fruit: first the blade, then the ear and then the full kernel in the ear. And when the fruit is ripe, the farmer has it harvested with the sickle.

But all of this starts with the sowing. That is an indication of Christ’s work on earth. Since he has lived and worked here on earth, the sowing has taken place. That may be a comfort for us when we look around us. There is perhaps much that may disappoint us and make us impatient. But then do not forget to see the work that Christ has done. He has given his life, paid the price for our sins, and won life when he conquered death. The seed has been sown. There is no one who can ever hold that back or stop that. What God has started, he will continue till the end.

God does not let go of that for which is Son gave his blood. . We are living in the time between sowing and harvest! The sowing has been done. The harvest is coming!

The Fruit←⤒🔗

After the sowing comes the growing. The seed germinates, comes up and grows into a blade, an ear, a kernel of grain. That happens without the farmer knowing how! The ground brings forth the fruit or grain by itself.

Also here, those who exegete, go different ways. The one says: sow the Word and then you do not have to do anything else. Be like the farmer: go to sleep and get up again, and do not touch the seed anymore, it all works itself out. Expect things from the Word, and nothing more!

Someone else says: the farmer is God, and when the farmer does nothing, but leaves it to the ground, then he leaves it to the believers: they are the fertile ground in which the seed was sown. Then the message is: be fertile ground for the Word! Go and spread that Word!

Yet another person opines: that sees grows by itself to a full ear, and this is how the kingdom of God will by itself fill the whole world. The waiting is for the time when the world becomes Christian.

In my opinion, this parable is about something else.

I just noted that the parable describes a whole process. First there is the sowing. That has taken place: Christ did it and that is now in the past. Currently we are in the time of germinating, the coming up and growing: the present time. And the harvest is something of the future.

Earlier I warned: be careful that you do not measure the kingdom of God by your ideals as to how it actually must be. God’s kingdom is in a process that continues and that is not finished before the harvest. That makes us careful in our judgment and teaches us patience.

I also said: the Bible does not approve of standing still or lingering. For laziness you can never rely on the Bible. Or hide behind the Bible. That becomes clear here as well. For the kingdom of God that is compared with a seed which germinates and grows, is not something that stays hidden and without fruit.

The seed comes up, says the Lord Jesus, and it grows into a blade, then an ear. The kingdom of God is not something invisible, but it takes shape! It is an ear, an ear that you can see grow!

By the fruit one can recognize the kingdom of God! And that growing fruit must be found in our lives! And in our church life!

The Growing Power←⤒🔗

And yet, there is something hidden with this seed, this kingdom of God. It grows without the farmer knowing how. He does not do anything then. He cannot do anything at that point, for he does not know how the seed grows and comes up. The earth produces the fruit “by itself”, without him knowing how.

That seems strange! For the sower is Christ. Does he not know how the seed grows? He reigns and does he not know all things? Yes, that is correct. But you should not force the parable this way. Look at it like this: we currently live in a time when the Lord Jesus is not with us, here on earth. But while he seems (!) to be far away, the kingdom of God is continuing. The seed grows, without the farmer being on top of it. The earth automatically produces the fruit.

It is the earth that produces the fruit. The growing power is not contained in the seed, but in the soil. In that soil we recognize (just as in the parable of the sower) the Holy Spirit. It is he who makes the kingdom of God grow. It is his wondrous work. He makes in the way of faith and repentance, from the seed a blade, an ear, an ear which is ripe for the harvest.

The harvest comes when the grain in the ear has ripened. The Lord does not speak about the whole field which much be full of fruit. God’s kingdom will not fill the whole field (i.e., world).

We may not expect that at some point all of humanity will repent before God and will bear fruit for him. The kingdom of God remains an ear in a field. We remain church in a world which at large will not have anything to do with God. But we are not pathetic. For in the kingdom of God works a secret force which ascends above all human powers: the power of God’s Spirit. He will make the ear of God’s kingdom grow and ripen, right through all the storms and scorching droughts. His power is such that we often cannot follow and comprehend it. But the Spirit brings the fruit of God’s kingdom ever further. He strengthens his church through everything that happens.

Our Life←⤒🔗

This does not mean that we hang back or that we can think that everything will automatically turn out fine for us. The kingdom of God is compared to a seed that grows into an ear filled with fruit. And the harvest comes when the fruit is ripe. The kingdom of God becomes visible in the fruit of it! And this fruit must grow in our lives! Our life must be a life that is characterized by the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit does not consist of passiveness and doing nothing, but in love, joy, and peace, patience, friendliness, and goodness, faith, meekness, and self-control. We must show that fruit. It is fruit that perhaps does not get in the paper, but it will get to the harvest!

In this we do not achieve perfection. We remain deficient and sinful. We remain in a process of fighting against sin and toward sanctification our whole lives. But it is a real process! And no standing still. The kingdom of God is not something that is dead (i.e., without life). There is growth in God’s kingdom, and development. It is not being frozen at a certain point. The kingdom of God is a seed, an ear that grows. Until the ear is ripe. That requires prayer. And continuous work of the Spirit with the Word.

The Harvest←⤒🔗

As soon as the grain allows, the Lord Jesus takes to it with the sickle. Then it is time to harvest. The Lord does not wait any longer than necessary to harvest the crop. The Lord does not “take his time”. He comes as soon as it is time! He himself also looks forward to this. Each day that this takes (longer) is for him a thousand years. So impatient is he!

The harvest comes when the fruit allows it. That is a beautiful expression. This world is being ruled and influenced by various powers. As church and as Christians we feel like a small and an ever-pushed-back entity of greatness.

But decisive for the day of the harvest is not the scheming of government leaders or other rulers. It is also not by chance or by fate. But the question is whether the fruit is ripe, and the harvest is ready. It is not the expulsion of CO2, or nuclear explosions, but the preaching of the gospel and the fruit of that, which determines the moment of harvest-time. The world will not go down by calamities, but she in on the way to see God’s promises fulfilled. When the fruit is ripe, the Lord will come to harvest it.

Ripe←⤒🔗

When the fruit is ripe. We ourselves are not the fruit. With that full grown and ripe fruit, it is about the kingdom of God. The world does not revolve around me! And the Lord does not wait until it please me to be ripe in good works. The Lord harvests when the fruit of his kingdom is ripe. And the big question for me is now: do I belong to that kingdom? Do I want to show the fruit of that kingdom?

When we are young, we are prone to think that we can bring in the complete harvest. We watch to see what we will bring in.

But the Lord Jesus speaks in a different manner. It is not us who are harvesting. We are being harvested! The Sower wants to harvest us.

Does our life show the fruit of God’s kingdom and of God’s Spirit?