Luke 8:6-10
Luke 8:6 (KJB)
And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away,
because it lacked moisture.
Then some of the seeds had fallen on places of stone. This does not indicate
that the field was filled with stones because before it can be readied for
planting, it has to be cleared of anything which could cause a hand plow to get
stuck. What is in view here is the soil which looks like the other soil, but the
difference is that underneath is a plate of rock which has only a small layer of
soil on top giving the appearance that it is fine for planting. The shallowness
of the soil on top of the rock was enough for the plants to sprout immediately.
This would be in contrast to those plants where the seed fell on ground which
was deeper and would take a little longer to sprout.
Luke 8:7 (KJB)
And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it.
(Isa 32:13 KJV) Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers;
yea, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city: No matter how one keeps
the fields free of weeds, they will always return. One thing this field had was
thorns and those thorns had choked the seed which was sown on it. Obviously,
part of the field was not tilled correctly and there were some roots left of
thorn and brier bushes which grew rapidly and caused the seeds of the good
plants to be choked and the result of choking is death. The thorn plants would
have robbed all the nutrition from the good seed, just as weeds take sustenance
from flowers or vegetable plants. That is why gardens must be weeded on a
regular basis.
Luke 8:8 (KJB)
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.
There was much wasted seed in the way this sower had sown, however, he planted
some of the seeds on good soil and they grew properly. The results that there
was a harvest in spite of the fact that much of the plants did not germinate on
the bad soil. The seed goes into the ground a tiny item and then when the plant
comes to fruition, the result is a great harvest from thirty fold to one hundred
fold. A fold means something that is multiplied by. When I was in the foods
business, we had raw materials which were two-fold, three-fold, etc. The higher
the fold, the stronger the raw material.
Jesus now tells those who have ears to hear, to hear. This is not speaking of
the physical hearing but is speaking of spiritually hearing the message which is
behind the parables. Those who have spiritual ears are those whom God has
qualified to hear spiritual things. Those who have spiritual ears are those who
are the saved because only they would understand the true spiritual nature of
seed sowing which is the propagation of the Word of God to the masses. One
person hears and understands the Gospel, while another hears and has no idea
what is being taught, because they have not been qualified to understand
spiritual things. (1 Cor 2:14 KJV) But the natural man receiveth not the things
of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know
them, because they are spiritually discerned.
Luke 8:9 (KJB)
And his disciples asked him, saying, What might this parable be?
The fact that Jesus used the sower and seed as His focus probably did not cause
any misunderstanding on the part of the disciples. What they wanted to know was
the application of the parable. This parable taught that the seed sower had
wasted much seed but in the end, there was still a great harvest of one hundred
fold. What is in view is that many evangelistic attempts may seem to be wasted
but there will eventually come that great harvest and therefore the Christian,
the sower, should never be disheartened but continue to plant those seeds and
let the Lord apply them where He desires.
Luke 8:10 (KJB)
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.
Here Jesus states to the disciples that the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven
will be given only to those whom the Lord Jesus saves but to the rest of the
unbelieving world, the mysteries of that Kingdom are withheld. This is a form of
election where only those who are saved are privileged to know the mysteries
while the unsaved will never come to the truth of these mysteries. Divine truths
are considered mysteries because apart from the indwelling Holy Spirit, a person
will be unable to understand them. When it speaks of the Kingdom of God here, it
also includes all aspects of the Gospel. (Eph 3:4 KJV) Whereby, when ye
read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) Another
mystery is the mystery of Christ who was withheld in times past but is now
revealed. That revelation is for the believers only as we saw that the
Pharisees, who were supposed to be experts in the law and the Scriptures, did
not recognize Christ because He was the mystery withheld.
Jesus had done amazing miracles from healing the sick to raising the dead right
in their presence but they had rejected the works and His teachings. Since they
had shown themselves to be rebellious, Jesus now spoke to them in parables. It
was not because they could not hear, see, or understand since many miracles were
done right in their sight but the fact was their hearts were so hardened, that
they would not see, hear, or understand. It was willful rebellion which caused
this situation.