Sinclair B. Ferguson

All this week on Things Unseen, we've been thinking about what I've called the parable of parables, the parable of the farmer, the seed, and the soils, the parable that explains what happens when the Word of God is preached.

Jesus himself is like a farmer sowing seed.

And he tells us here that we need to take heed how we hear, as well as what we hear.

And I signed off yesterday by pointing out that there's a rule in the parables that's sometimes called the rule of end stress.

The major point is likely to come right at the end.

Like when you tell a story, you don't put the conclusion in the middle.

And if you tell a joke, you don't give away the punchline before the end.

If you do, you'll ruin it, and nobody will laugh, unless perhaps they're laughing at you.

So in Jesus' parable, there's not only searching analysis of our spiritual condition, but there's also good news right at the end.

When the good seed of God's Word falls on good soil, it yields a harvest, even a bumper harvest, thirtyfold, sixtyfold, or even a hundredfold.

That's pretty amazing, isn't it?

But what is good soil?

What Jesus means is soil that's been well prepared.

That could be hardened soil that's been broken up.

It could mean rocky soil where the substratum has been cracked open.

It could mean weed-infested soil where serious weeding has been done and weed killer has been applied.

Then we can look forward to a great harvest.

And you can see the spiritual parallel here.

And this is the wonder of the gospel.

The gospel seed may not look very much when we first see it, but when it is planted in good soil, its wonderful effects begin to appear, and it yields an abundant crop at the harvest.