“Hear then the parable of the sower. When any one hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in his heart; this is what was sown along the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is he who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the delight in riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. As for what was sown on good soil, this is he who hears the word and understands it; he indeed bears fruit, and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.” Matt. 13:18-23
Unfortunately many false teachers in the harem that have used this parable to explain that believers with enough faith, will get all the good stuff of life. They are motivated by their own greed and covetousness. They condemn the poor or sick, as ones whose faith is weak, or they are somehow living outside of God’s will, or harboring some sin. If faith alone could bring good health and prosperity, then we would have few hospitals and even fewer food banks.
Messiah explains just the opposite is true, but only to His close followers. They are the ones to whom the mysteries of the Kingdom are given.
To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to him who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away. Matt 13:11-12
Clearly this is not physical wealth or health, it is information and knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom. These mysteries are to be given in abundance, to those who are close, those who know the way into the King’s chambers [Song 1:4]. But to those who are just hanging around out in the harem, to get food or miracles, health or wealth, even the small knowledge that they do have will be taken away.
Messiah knew that the generation that He spoke to would not receive this new Kingdom. He knew only a few would hold on to this great blessing. He knew that the counterfeit mystery Babylon held much more allure.
The idea that this knowledge was passed down from the apostles to new apostles and resides only in the direct line of teaching is also a false teaching of the church of Rome. The Bible makes it quite clear that anyone who studies can find these same mysteries, “Whosoever will”, John 3:16.
We need only to seek the mysteries of the Kingdom and not be fooled by the Mysteries of Babylon. Our enemy is subtle and deceiving. He carefully built his mysteries to mimic the true Mysteries of God. In paganism there is an original sinner, and a redeemer, who has a mother, and a father. There is always a snake, and someone who dies killing that snake. We must be careful not to adopt these false ideas but remain true to the truth. The false teachers are every willing to distract our minds with tinsel, garlands, twinkling lights, colored eggs, and false sacrifice. Anything that will keep the money and the power flowing to them.
The explanation of the parable of the sower is simple. The kingdom has many kinds of soils. Some are good and nutritious and produce great growth. Others are poor and shallow, and provide little or no growth.
This is not the Kingdom of perfection that those false teachers present. There are bad soils beaten hard by the world, there are predators swooping in to eat the seeds of knowledge, there is persecution and tribulation of the choking weeds.
The question is not what will you get from God, health, wealth or a Mercedes- Benz? Is it, WHAT KIND OF SOIL ARE YOU?
Are we the kind of soil that the spirit of truth and wisdom can grow deep and abiding? Or would we rather play in the world? Are we hard and impervious to the teachings of the truth. Or did we start out with hope and joy only to turn when the first person makes fun of us?
All these soils are in the Kingdom. The Kingdom is partly corrupt. It is not the perfect world we were told to wait for. It is right here right now. Full of false teacher and false brothers. Looking for every a opportunity to get our eyes of the prize. We must identify and purge all that is Babylon. Christmas, Easter, Lent etc. they must all go, if we have any hope of finding the true Mysteries, we can not, must not, be distracted with the false mysteries. We must study and learn to identify them. We must study God’s word, and find the truth in order to have a full victorious Christian life. We will never hear the angels sing, until we stop listening to the croaking frogs [Rev 16:13].
For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. Rom. 8:5
The Song of Songs 