Mark 4:26-29
26 Then He said, “The kingdom of God is like a man who throws seed on the ground; 27 and he goes to bed at night and gets up every day, and[in the meantime] the seed sprouts and grows; how [it does this], he does not know. 28 The earth produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head [of grain], then the mature grain in the head. 29 But when the crop ripens, he immediately puts in the sickle [to reap], because [the time for] the harvest has come.”
Even though Jesus uses several parables to explain the kingdom of God to us, it still remains a mystery because we cannot fully understand it with our human minds. In this parable he compares the kingdom to a man who scatters seed to the ground and as the days go by, he has no idea how the seed sprouts and grows. This reminds me of what Jesus said in Matthew 16 that “I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” Just like the man who went out and did his part to scatter the seed, we have our part to play but only Jesus can build his church.
I love the way Jesus takes the time to mention the process and progression of the growth of the seed. It sprouts, first the blade, then the head of grain, then the grain matures. This talks to me about times and seasons just like the bible says there is a time for everything. The kingdom of God is growing progressively. There is a process that God has subjected his kingdom to and just like the man who waits for the grain to mature before he can step out to harvest it, so it is with God. There is a set time for harvest and when we get to it then God himself will come down to put in the sickle to reap the harvest.
Remember Noah and the building of the ark? That too was a process but when the time was fully come, the bible says that Noah his family and the animals got into the ark and God himself locked them in, because the time for the flood had come.
The kingdom of God is here with us. The question you need to ask yourself is “Are you part of it?” If not then become part of it by confessing Jesus as your Lord and savior and asking him to forgive you of your sin because soon it will be time for God to put in the sickle to reap his harvest and by then it will be too late for you if you are not part of his kingdom.
