SOWING

^[p. 335] SOWING

Genesis 27: 26, 27; Hosea 2: 23; Psalm 97: 11; Leviticus 19: 19

I wish to speak of sowing, it being the great sowing time, with a view to a great crop for God.

The Lord, as is well known, speaks much of this in His parabolic ministry. A well-known chapter that speaks much of this great matter is Matthew 13, and it is to be noted, if we are to understand the full bearing of the Lord’s instructions, that His first parable is general, without reference to the ground or area of the sowing, the sowing being His. The second parable is His field, and so also is the parable of the mustard seed-it is in His field. That is to say, the field is His, the Sower’s.

We have also in that chapter the field in which the treasure was found; that field is not said to be the property of the man who found the treasure. He acquired the field. He bought it. So that we have in these allusions to the field, dear brethren, proprietary rights, whereas the first sowing is general and the quality of the ground varies. There are in it four kinds of sowing area, one only of which yields, one only of which is called “good ground”.

Now I wish to work on these lines in what I have to say, so I began with the idea of a field in Genesis. It is a believer, to make it very simple, and not a mere nominal believer, but one who is genuine, and who shows his genuineness by his appreciation of what comes to him from God. This is a matter of importance, especially to our young brothers and sisters here, or young persons generally. The application of the word “field”, as seen in this chapter, is contingent on genuineness, faith.

^[p. 336] Jacob, as you all doubtless know, was marked off before he was born, as in the mind of God for blessing, and the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. The enemy would seek to prevent the accomplishment of the divine thought in its subject, and he did not fail in this case. His effort was marked, and his instrument, alas, convenient, in the father of this subject of the divine purpose, a sorrowful suggestion that a father or mother, or other near relatives may become the instrument in the hand of the enemy to prevent, to endeavour to prevent the blessing reaching its object.

It is sorrowful to have to mention this as to Isaac, remarkable type of Christ as he was, one who, as this very chapter testifies, had faith, for the New Testament says he blessed both Jacob and Esau; he did it by faith. But he had earlier been affected by natural appetite, a very solemn reminder to us who are parents, to judge what is natural, or we may be found the instrument in the hands of Satan to divert the blessing. Not indeed that it can be diverted, but how solemn it is that we should be in his hands as aiming at the diversion of the blessing from the one for whom it is designed.

We are told that Isaac ate of Esau’s venison and loved him accordingly. How sorrowful the suggestion! Esau was a man of the field, and provided for his father on natural lines. Think of a man of faith loving his son or daughter because of his or her natural proclivities, and feeding on what they provide, and allowing himself to be blinded by this natural ministration. One can understand how a young man in college or school, with ability and fine attainments after man’s thought, may minister to the natural proclivities of his parent, and divert his parent from the path of faith as to him, while on the other hand, a devoted son or daughter, who values the blessing of God, may be disregarded.

^[p. 337] So it was, beloved, in this case. It is said that Isaac loved Esau; whereas, as time ran its course, and Esau had ample opportunity to show what he was, receiving kindness from God and from his brethren, it is said of him that Jehovah hated him, a very strong word. How sorrowful that a parent should be found loving in his son or daughter that which God hates. How serious that a man of faith should thus be found diametrically opposed to God in his taste and in his attitude towards his children. On the other hand, it is said of Rebecca that she loved Jacob. At the very beginning she was in accord with God; He also loved Jacob. Isaac loved Esau, but God hated him, as the sequel shows. Rebecca on the other hand loved Jacob, and it is said that God loved him.

We are reminded, dear brethren, of the importance of being in accord with God, having tastes according to God. God’s hatred of Esau and His love for Jacob was no matter of purpose, no matter of predestination; it was the outcome of what each person was, namely, that Jacob became lovable and was lovable in the eyes of God, and Esau in his history was hateful and God hated him.

Well now, you will observe the word ‘field’ is applied to Jacob here, for Isaac is now speaking by faith. God saw to it, in His faithfulness, that the parent did not divert the blessing, for the blessing must reach its object, whatever the enemy may do. Moreover, the blesser must be a parent; in this case it must be Isaac, for in spite of his natural appetite, he represented God, but how sorrowful that a parent, who does indeed represent God in his house, should become opposed in his tastes and attitude to what God loves. But God compelled Isaac to bless, even as, later, he compelled Balaam to bless. Not indeed that there is any real comparison between the persons, but in this case Isaac is compelled to bless. He thought he was blessing Esau, but he was blessing Jacob, Such,

beloved, is the unerringness of God’s purpose; nothing can divert it; nothing can divert Him from it. And so Jacob is blessed, “Yea, and he shall be blessed”, says his father (Genesis 27:33). Thank God, he is blessed!

But I wanted to show how all this enters into the idea of a field. Not a mere field, such I have alluded to in Matthew 13, where you have the evil seed, or tares, sown. The point of view in Genesis 27 is the fertility of the field. There is no suggestion of soil for tares in this allusion. I am speaking now to young believers, particularly, that the character of the field might be understood. Not only that the Lord has acquired rights over you, and He has, through redemption, but that there should be the smell that is alluded to here-that is, the smell of fertility; that you are such an one as the Lord has blessed. “A field which the Lord hath blessed”. It is potential here, of course, for as yet there is no crop in Jacob. But then it is set down for the young believer that he should understand that there is to be this smell, as it were, this evidence of fertility, not merely that you are a nominal christian. “See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed”, Genesis 27: 27.

And notice, it is a parent kissing his son. Whatever his own feelings are, he is now in the hand of God, and he is speaking as a man of faith. His smell is now right; his senses are under control; he is able to tell what the smell of fertility is, and he tells us, but it is as he kisses his son.

How God would call upon the young to draw near! “Come near, now, and kiss me, my son”. Here it is not the nations kissing the Son, as in Psalm 2; it is rather the son kissing the vessel of the blessing, for Isaac represented God. That indeed, is what the patriarchs set out; they are representative of God.

You cannot find men of that kind today. All that is now merged in Christ. All the blessing of God now ^[p. 339] comes out through Christ. What Abraham represented, what Isaac represented, and Jacob, as passing on the blessing, is all now in Christ. But the point I am making is, “Come near, now, and kiss me, my son”. Were some young man in a theatre or cinema, or using those things that belong to and mark this world, how ashamed he would be if he were called upon to kiss. It is a challenge as to whether there is the odour of fertility, that is, the guarantee of a crop for God. That is what I had in mind, beloved, in this remarkable type.

And so, carrying on with the thought, the fertility is there, but there is the seed to be sown in the field, and the crop is to be according to the sowing. Fertility in itself will not suffice: there has to be the sowing, and I need not remind you, dear brethren, that the sowing is by Christ too. The sower is the Son of man, and He sows with a view to a crop. He knows well what He seeks. So the believer holds himself for Christ.

Now you find in the book of Hosea remarkable instructions in regard to sowing. The first son of the prophet, a symbolical son, is Jizreel, which signifies that God soweth. But in the meantime, in chapter 1, we have God’s mind as to the state of Israel, and it is very different from the idea of a crop such as He sought. The meaning of Jizreel, ‘God soweth’, belongs to the gospel. It is an element of the gospel that whatever your present condition is, God soweth, and He will take you on. That is His mind.

And so in the verse I have read, we have, “I will sow her unto me in the land”. Now it is not here a question of sowing the word of God in the person, as in Matthew 13. It is sowing the persons. It is important to maintain these two thoughts in regard of sowing. Firstly, what I am as a field, and the sowing in me by the Lord, with a view to the crop He seeks, and secondly, His sowing me personally.

That is what you get here. “I will sow her unto me in the land”. Now this is a very important matter, for if God is sowing persons, He has in view a crop of persons. If he sows you or me to Himself in the land, He has in view a crop like me, like you; and this raises the question as to whether I am an Israel as indicated in this wonderful book of Hosea.

It is a book that we should read, dear brethren, because it is so full of affection. It is so full of faithfulness on the one hand, and so full of affection on the other hand, on the part of God. In one breath you have the severest rebukes, and in the next the tenderest expressions of affection. In one breath there is the pronouncement of judgment, and in the next breath there is the announcement of the divine purpose of love. So that the believer, placing himself before God in this way, is checked constantly. God is, as it were, saying to him constantly, ‘There is that in you which I hate; I am a consuming fire in regard of that’, and on the other hand, ‘There is that in you which I am delighted with, and I wish it not to be impaired’. That is the book of Hosea; its issue is triumphant.

But I speak here of this sowing of Israel to Himself. “I will sow her unto me”, He says, “in the land”. That is, He will have a crop like this. Israel is to fill the face of the world with fruit. If I am to be fruitful, as sown personally, another has to be begotten, as it were, through me. Not that it can be effected literally, but that is the divine thought. If God sets down a person in this town, He means to have another like him, and another, and another; that is the idea. You can see the greatness of it, and the importance of being like God, being representatives of God. The crop is like God; it is after His own thought.

In the second parable in Matthew 13, the Son of man sows in His own field, meaning that there is a sphere that He regards as His own. The whole realm of christendom belongs to the Lord in one sense,

^[p. 341] Certainly at the beginning that was how the matter stood. He sowed and there was a crop, and where His name is professed, that person is by right acknowledged to be His, and so the myriads of believers increase the field.

Hence the idea of the sowing in the second parable is to produce others like the person sown. And who is the person sown? A son of the kingdom. Now a son of the kingdom is not a child of the kingdom, meaning that the idea of the kingdom has taken hold of the person; he is a product of it; he has developed in it. God would have that extended and extended; he is a model; that is the idea, and Satan is against that.

As God sets a man or woman here in this town, formed by the kingdom, Satan is against it, and he counters it by imitation; it is worth imitating. Satan will never imitate what is not worth imitating. He imitates to nullify what he imitates. So that while men slept tares were sown; we are told that an enemy did it. Satan did it.

Well, that is the idea of the person, “I will sow her unto me in the land”. God is looking on you in this town, and in many other towns; He says, as it were, ‘I have sown you unto Myself; the crop is for Me. I am looking at you as I looked on My beloved Son when He was here, and I announced My pleasure in Him, and I want you multiplied; I want others like you’. They are to be like Christ, of course, but you are here under the eyes of men, and God bears testimony to you. Think of being here for Christ in such a way that God can call attention to you. He wants to have others like you. That, in truth, is how multiplication proceeds. God would have others like us as we are like Christ.

There are the sons of the kingdom, and the enemy is so irate, so opposed that he makes an imitation, called tares, an imitation of the real thing. But our ^[p. 342] point, beloved, is to be the real thing, that is after Christ. So the dear Thessalonian christians, young ones, were said to be the “Thessalonians in God the Father”, meaning that as young believers they were pleasing to the Father; they were delightful to Him; they were in His heart. They were models, we are told (1 Thessalonians 1: 7). The testimony sounded out from them, that is the thought.

Well now, passing on to the third scripture, I wanted to show how God provides for us under these circumstances. “Light is sown”, we are told, “for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart”. Now this is a remarkable scripture, and fits in with what I have been saying, by way of encouragement, by way of provision. God looks at you in this town, you are regarded as in the town, in God the Father’s heart. He is pleased with you and He wants to fortify you. You may be faltering; difficulties may arise. God says, ‘I have sown on your account; whatever your needs may be in the future, you are provided for; I have sown against them. When they arise the crop will be there’. How comforting the thought is! It is another way of God calling upon us to cast all our care upon Him. He cares for you, and in this wonderful way, He is actually sowing in view of your future needs.

You say, ‘Where does He sow?’. Leave that to Him. There is nothing about the field here; nothing about the land. It is God telling you, as sown unto Him yourself, that He is providing for all your future needs. You cannot but say you are provided for in the present, but what causes you anxiety is the future, and this crop is what you need.

You look into next year; there may be no next year in the sense in which we speak, but suppose there will be, the crop will be there to meet it, and what a crop it will be, light! God says, as it were, ‘When the need arises there will be light for you; you will know what to do’. How comforting that is! It conforms with the Lord’s word, “He that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life”, John 8: 12.

The “light of life” conforms with this scripture. It is a question of sowing and the crop that is in view. In the future day, as the need arises, you will know what to do; you will not be doubtful; there will be provision; there will be light, and not only light, but joy, as the passage says, “Light is sown for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart”.

Did you ever see a crop of joy coming up out of the ground, or a crop of light? You say, ‘Light comes down from heaven’, but Scripture does not always say that. It speaks of light arising in the darkness (Psalm 112: 4) and of light springing up (Matthew 4: 16). It is a question of light, however it may come. It may be in the saints in the meeting, that God is sowing in them that there may be joy for you. Is it not His way, His wonderful resource? Light will spring up. What a wonderful time we are living in. A hundred or more years ago, there was very little in the way of light as life-very little of what the Lord speaks of as the light of life. There were the Scriptures, and there were christians who had light; christians who had the Spirit. But I mean christians walking according to divine principles, as set up here by God, as sown of God in His field, that have fight, but it is the light of life.

Hence there is the importance of keeping with the brethren. Light is amongst them. Normally where brethren are following righteousness, faith, love and peace-where the Spirit has room, there is light, and that is fight as life. It springs up. And moreover there is joy too, and that also springs up, for the fruit of the Spirit is joy and you are to participate in that. All over the world one knows of these things. A crop of light, a crop of joy, sown of God for you and for me. What we are enjoying today was sown long since.

^[p. 344] The seed is constantly being put in in view of the future. God has a long look out, and He encourages our hearts by telling us that “Light is sown for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart”.

Well, the last scripture is in keeping with all this, namely that the believer has responsibility in regard of sowing. He has a field, whether it be himself, as seen in Jacob, whether it be his household, or whether it be his meeting, to be very simple. He may regard any of these spheres as his field, and he is enjoined here not to sow diverse seeds.

Now brethren, this is very important in all the three spheres to which I have alluded. If I sow to my flesh, personally, I shall reap corruption; if I sow to the Spirit I reap everlasting life. It may be some of you have never thought of reaping everlasting life. Your mind has been on the thought of the gift of everlasting life. That is important; it is a gift. But it is also acquired by sowing according to Scripture. If we sow to the Spirit we reap everlasting life. What a crop that is, beloved! Did you ever think of it? Did you ever picture to yourself what the crop is? If you sow to the Spirit there will be an actual crop coming up for yourself, everlasting life. It is a term little understood amongst us, as little understood perhaps as any scriptural term used amongst the people of God; certainly as a crop coming up from sowing to the Spirit.

Even if it be my household the same applies. How dangerous to sow diverse seeds. I suppose that it is in the household that we are most exposed to this error. Parents bringing up their children with a view to enhancing them in society is a diverse seed, and it is sure to bear its own crop. The field is strewn with derelicts from that sowing. Young people are ruined as their parents have in mind to make them more than they are socially, not merely to earn their living, but to enhance their position in this world. It is a ^[p. 345] diverse seed that yields its own sorrowful crop, and it is manifest sorrowfully all around us in relation to the people of God.

Is it not well, beloved, to think of these things, to think of this injunction by God, not to sow your field with diverse seeds, but one seed alone, that is the word of God? If you want a crop like Christ in your house, it is obtained by sowing that seed. But if you want to fill your house with Esaus and Esau’s wives, that were a trial to Isaac and Rebecca, causing them a life of misery, then sow with diverse seeds.

Beloved, let us be on our guard as to this error and miscalculation all around and amongst us, and sow the seed, “the living and abiding word of God”, that which endures for ever, the product of which is like Christ, and never causes misery to faith, but rather joy.

If one sows to the Spirit in one’s house, one shall indeed reap everlasting life, even in his family. I mean to say, the elements will be there, and there will be light and joy in the household. How beautiful is a christian household, brought up on the principles of the word of God; the children after Christ, in the testimony. The very house is a well of life and of light. Well, dear brethren, that was what I had in mind to present to you. You will admit that it is practical and important. May the Lord be pleased to help us to take to heart the idea of sowing, that there may be seed-time and harvest. That is the great principle laid down in Genesis 8. “Seed time and harvest ... shall not cease”. It is continual sowing of seed and continual reaping of harvest.

But let the seed be the word of God, and the harvest will be according to it. It will be after Christ, causing light and joy in our surroundings.