Luke 8: 1-18

(Luke 8: 1-18) And it came to pass afterward, that he went throughout every city and village, preaching and shewing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God: and the twelve were with him, And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils, And Joanna the wife of Chuza Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others, which ministered unto him of their substance. And when much people were gathered together, and were come to him out of every city, he spake by a parable:  A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it.  And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it.  And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold. And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. And his disciples asked him, saying, What might this parable be?  And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand.  Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.  Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away. And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection. But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.  No man, when he hath lighted a candle, covereth it with a vessel, or putteth it under a bed; but setteth it on a candlestick, that they which enter in may see the light.  For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad.  Take heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have.

This parable speaks of the mystery of heaven. The Bible says in Matthew (13:11).『 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. 』 Here “you” are the disciples. Only the disciples of Jesus were allowed to know the secret. All who are in Christ are disciples of Jesus. Those who are in Christ are disciples, not because they believe in Jesus, but because they died on the cross with Jesus. Why does Jesus tell them to deny themselves?

For "self" is the fleshly old man who kills the spirit. So, the purpose of Jesus' coming to the world was to save the spirit. The Spirit is those who were in Christ in the kingdom of God. But those who were in Christ were tempted by Satan, separated from Christ, and confined to this world. The Bible says in Ephesians (5: 31-32).『 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. 』 The church means the spirit of the saints. The spirit dies from being trapped in the earth, the material of this world, and the human being becomes a soul. To die means to lose our relationship with God.

To know the mysteries of heaven, one must know who is the sower, who is the seed, and the field. The sower is God, and the seed is the word of God. Fields speak the hearts of people.『I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. 』 In John 15: 1, "God is a farmer and a sower." Genesis 2 tells the story of the Garden of Eden. There is the fruit of the tree of life and the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The fruit of the tree of life is the fruit of eternal life. Explain in Genesis 3:22 that “Adam and Eve” eat the fruit of the tree of life and gain eternal life.

『And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: 』 If a man eats the fruit of the tree of life, he is eternal. But if one does not keep the word of God, he cannot eat the fruit of the tree of life. So the Bible says in Genesis (3:24).『 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life. 』

A flaming sword which turned every way symbolizes the law. The law is to know sin, and a sinner must die. But God concealed the fruit of life (Christ) in the law.

Man must eat the fruit of life, which God has prevented him from eating, because a sinner who has left the kingdom of God must not eat the fruit of the tree of life. Thus, God puts the spirit into the soil so that the spirit and the body meet and become human, and God tells the human being through the law, "Let you become like God."

Thus, when they realize that it is impossible for them to achieve God's righteousness, they should give up and seek the fruit of the tree of life (Christ) hidden in the law. So, God is sending a message to humans. "I will give you righteousness if you give up" to achieve righteousness "through the law and enter into Christ."

Seed means Christ as the seed of promise. By the way, the earth means the heart of man, and the land is the soil. The root of man is soil. In Genesis 3:23, "Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken."Till the ground is for sowing. "Till the heart" is to receive the word of God and bear fruit.

The Bible says in Genesis (3: 17-19).『 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.』 To live on earth, man must make food, so man must cultivate and live, and if people think that God has done so, this is a worldly thought. If you think so, you do not know the fruit of eternal life. "eat bread" means the food of eternal life. God told people to till the earth (heart) to get food for eternal life.

The Bible says in Genesis 2:15.『 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. 』 God created man in a world outside of Eden. So God led Adam into the garden of Eden. The garden of Eden symbolizes the kingdom of God. This means that God contains the promise to bring man into the kingdom of God. God tells Adam to cultivate and keep for the tree of life. If Adam does not cultivate and keep it, he cannot eat the fruit of the tree of life.

『Thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread 』 It can be seen that this is to obtain everlasting fruit. Well, the seeding parable is to get everlasting fruit. The reason for eating everlasting fruit is that man is not eternal. Four types of fields are introduced in the parable of the sowing field. That is, the four types of people's hearts.

Only one kind of person is a good field. It is a good field that the seed of God's word can fall into the heart and become life. A good field is a field in good condition for plowing the soil. "Till the heart" is the one who cultivates the field of mind, who has studied the words of the Bible so many times and realizes that he has sinned in the kingdom of God and is confined to the earth.

However, today, many church people think of the state of the heart as follows: When they cleanse the heart and understand it well when they hear the word of God, they think that the word of God is life in their hearts. They think that to make a good field, they must obey and practice the word of God in a state of holy heart. But man cannot be holy by himself.

To "cultivate in a good field" is to die with Christ: to realize that we are bound to die apart from God, and that salvation is impossible without Christ. Thus, dying with Christ is cultivation. To die is to die of greed. It is to discover that people can be saved only by realizing their sins in the law, and by realizing that they are to die through sacrifice, and by discovering Christ in them. This is the meaning of tilling the land.

In the four heart fields, all but the good ones are the ones that have the heart in the world. Thus, they are fields that have no interest in the kingdom of God.
A good field is the heart of those who realize that they are those who have left God, are confined in darkness, and are in need of the fruits of life. Thus, God's grace and work are seen only in good fields. So, the Bible tells us that the greed that caused us to leave God, must die before we can enter the kingdom of God. To die is die with Jesus who died on the cross. If you die with Jesus, you are born again into the body of the Spirit by the power of the Holy Spirit. Those who are reborn in the spirit body become disciples of Jesus.