A message from Bobby:
Last time we discussed the Parable of the Sower and we saw the four different kind of soils and how they responded to the seed of the Word of God. I was surprised to learn that the Parable of the Sower is a foundational parable, because Jesus asked his disciples, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable?” (Mark 4:13). As a result of this discovery, which Peter pointed out, I was curious to find out and examine more practical examples from the Bible of these kinds of people who represented these four types of soils – examples, which would be less abstract and more specific.
However, as I was looking deeper into the Parable of the Sower and into such examples, I marveled at the width and depth of knowledge I was able to uncover in a short time. And I had to digress from my original purpose, because I really wanted to share some of the revelations from the Word that touched my heart. And I hope what I share will stir the curiosity and desire for each one of us to dig deeper into the Word and eat the meat of it with delight.
The first thing to note about the four types of soil in the Bible is that the Parable of the Sower is presented somewhat differently in the different gospels. While in Mark 4:1-20 and in Matthew 13:1-23 the versions of the parable share a lot of similarities, in Luke 8:4-15, there are a few nuances which add extra meaning to the same parable.
First Type of Soil
The first type of soil represents people, who never came to believe the Word, and thus, were never saved.
“the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved” (Luke 8:12)
The Bible is true, inerrant and we can point to much historical evidence of its reliability. Yet, these kind of facts are not what is going to change people’s minds and hearts and convince them to trust in God. What will change people is the gospel. To understand the Bible, a person must first be born again, and this happens through faith in Christ. Until then, a person cannot understand the Bible.
“the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (1 Cor. 2:14)
We know that the Bible is inspired and authored by the Holy Spirit (2 Tim 3:16) – that is, the Bible is a spiritual book, and a spiritual book can only be understood through spiritual means. And the natural (or soulish) man cannot perceive it through the flesh. Thus, there is no point of trying to convince anyone, who does not know the Holy Spirit, who has not been born by the Spirit of God, to understand a spiritual book, like the Bible. It’s like trying to teach a fish to walk out on sand. First, the Holy Spirit must give spiritual birth to a person and open their eyes to spiritual truth, before they can believe the Bible and start exploring the deep secrets of God:
“But as it is written: Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.” (1 Cor 2: 9-10)
“These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.” (1 Cor 2: 13:)
We must make sure that unbelievers are given the opportunity to hear the main message of the Bible – that everyone, who wants, can have a personal relationship with a perfect Savior, and the only requirement is faith.
What are some examples in the Bible of people in the first category of hearers – who outright rejected Jesus and his gospel?
- Herod the king (Matthew 2:3, 16)
- The scribes and Pharisees
- Demetrius, the silversmith, and the other craftsmen in Ephesus (Acts 19:23-29) – they were more interested in not losing their profits than in gaining the knowledge of the life which only Jesus can give.
Second Type of Soil
The second category of person is those who initially receive the Word with joy, but after testing, trial or persecution, they fall away (in Luke 8:13) or stumble (in Mark 4:17; Matthew 13:21).
We have to make sure our faith is fully alive and does not wither at the first challenge (unlike the second type of soil). And if we pass the first test and start bringing forth fruit, we should not allow future challenges to stifle our spiritual growth, to stop us from continuing our spiritual journey and keep us from walking by faith (unlike the third type of soil). But we should keep pressing on by faith and passing our tests until we are fully pleasing to the Father, like Jesus was (like the fourth type of soil).
The Greek word used in Luke 8:13 for “fall away” has the same Greek root as the word “apostasia” in 2 Thess 2:3, from which we get the word apostasy and which is translated “the falling away”:
Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling awaycomes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition (2 Thess. 2:3)
The exact same word from Luke 8 13 is also used in 1 Timothy 4:1, but is translated as “depart from”:
Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons (1 Timothy 4:1)
Usually when people “depart from” the faith and from God, they are deceived and they also move towards something else – they start trusting in “deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons”. These end-time verses clearly speak of people who turn away from the faith and are damned when they do so. They are the ones who will deny the faith, follow the beast and receive his mark. Most Bible scholars would say that such self-professed believers never actually believed in Jesus in the first place. Their profession of faith was a false profession. They were never born again of the Spirit of God. And I think that might well be the case.
As I was studying the use of that same Greek word “fall away”, I also found it used by the author of Hebrews, who calls out to his “brethren” to stand fast in the faith till the end:
Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. (Hebrews 3:12)
But exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end. (Hebrews 3:13-14)
How can a heart of unbelief be found in a believer? If a believer is hardened through the deceitfulness of sin, was he ever a believer, did he have a genuine relationship with God?
The Christian journey is like the journey of the Israelites through the wilderness. God saved them from Egypt and then He led them towards the Promised Land. But they never reached their destination, because they rebelled, because they wavered at the challenge ahead and failed in the time of testing. They lost faith in God’s ability to deliver on His promises. Their example can be used as our example in our Christian walk, because we are going somewhere and we are led by the Holy Spirit towards our eternal destination in heavenly places, in the Kingdom of God. And we’ll face challenges and testing, but we should never waver or give up. Moreover, Hebrews 5: 12-14 and 6: 1-3 discuss the foundations of the faith and the need to move beyond spiritual milk. Hebrews chapter 11 gives us the examples of the patriarchs of the faith, and their example of a life walked by faith through various testing and trials. Finally, we arrive at Hebrews chapter 12, which lays out the discipline of the Lord:
If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? (Hebrews 12:7)
Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. (Hebrews 12:11)
In conclusion, I think Hebrews 3:12 fits into the larger context of the Book of Hebrews, which is a book about God’s discipline and spiritual growth in time of testing, rather than potentially losing our salvation. When we first believed, we were like newborn babies – we were born of the Spirit of God, but then we needed to grow with the milk of the Word (1 Peter 2: 2). We know that as babies continue to grow, they become little children, who need to be disciplined. We know that if parents leave children on their own devices, they cannot expect anything good from them. Children need to be taught right from wrong, need to be disciplined, need to be shown how to take responsibility and how to choose to do what is good and right. And parents do this for the good of their children, so that they may grow, mature and become self-reliant adults, who may function well in the world and manage to build a good life for themselves. In the same way that children must be taught about earthly things, we need to be disciplined by God about spiritual things, so we may have true life and have it more abundantly. This is the message of the Book of Hebrews and that’s how I think we should interpret that particular verse, despite of the word “fall away” being used in it.
Similar verses to the ones found in Hebrews, which have sober warnings to believers, can be found throughout the Bible. Paul exhorts the Galatian believers:
Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. (Galatians 5:1)
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. (1 Peter 5: 8-10)
What does it mean for Satan to devour a believer? Again, I do not think this is about necessarily losing one’s salvation, but rather about not reaching the fullness of what God wants for us. The Bible plainly tells us that our best examples of faith from the Old Testament are the patriarchs of the faith (Hebrews chapter 11), and our worst are the rebels in the wilderness (Hebrews chapters 3 and 4), who doubted in unbelief and disobeyed the Lord. Think also of Job’s friends, who appeared to be righteous and godly people, concerned with the well-being of their friend. In the end, they failed their test, but Job passed with flying colors in the midst of the largest storm of his life. In the end, God was very displeased with Job’s friends and he asked Job to pray for them.
The Galatian church is an example of a church that departed from the path they were going, from the truth, but Paul never condemned them and called them that they were lost to the faith. Even so, they were in clear danger.
O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth … Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? (Gal. 3:1-3)
To distinguish between the 2nd and 3rd type of soil in the Bible could be very difficult at times because none of these soils brought the desired fruit. Perhaps, we can point out that there are no apostates or false professions of faith in the 3rd type, and there are also no believers who “depart from” the faith altogether. In addition, the 3rd type must have passed at least one test, while the 2nd kind failed at the very beginning, at the first sign of serious trouble. And to complicate it further, some may repent and come back, like John Mark, who initially wavered and “departed from” the work of the apostles, but then he changed course. (Acts 15:36-38; 2 Timothy 4:11)
Let us look at the word “stumble” used in Mark 4:17 and Matthew 13:21, which also means “offended”. This same word is used in Romans 14:21
It is good neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak. (Romans 14: 21)
Certainly, Paul is not suggesting that we have the power to condemn our brother or sister in the faith to hell by what we eat. But we can certainly lead them to commit sin. Similar word is also used in Revelation 2:14.
But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality. (Revelation 2: 14)
Again, the example we have is of Balaam, who in the Old Testament led the people of God to sin against God, so that God could not bless them and prosper them in their conquest of the Promised Land. What is the application for us today? It’s that if we listen to people like Balaam and sin against God, we won’t be successful and prosperous in our spiritual journey, the goal of which is to be bountiful fruit bearers, whose lives are full of supernatural love and peace and joy, and whose prayers are answered, and who can see God deliver them from every test and trial victoriously.
The people represented by the 2nd type of soil wavered in the time of testing. This is a category none of us wants to be in. This is a serious warning to all believers! We don’t want Satan to devour us and trick us through the deceitfulness of sin. Rather, we want to pursue the Lord, who is able to deliver us from any difficulty, temptation, trial or tribulation, and use it ultimately, for our own good. We want God to help us finish our walk of faith victoriously, passing our tests, fully pleasing to the Lord, triumphing over the forces of darkness and wicked spirits, who seek to oppose us and prevent us from making it to our Promised Land.
Some of the practical examples of the 2nd kind of soil were mentioned above:
- Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus for money and was condemned. He was motivated by money and greed. The Bible says he was a thief (John 12:6).
- Balaam – a false prophet, who was condemned, because he led the people of God to commit sin (Jude 1:11; 2 Peter 2:15).
- The woman, false prophetess, Jezebel, who led the church of Thyatira into sin and idolatry (Revelation 2: 20).
- Hymenaeus and Philetus – who taught that the resurrection had already taken place and overthrew the faith of some (2 Timothy 2: 17-19).
- Demas, who loved this present world and left Paul (2 Timothy 4:10; Colossians 4:14; Philemon 1:24).
- Diotrephes, who did not receive the apostle John and other believers (3 John 9-10).
- Perhaps, Job’s friends, because they displeased God and did not do what was right in the time of Job’s testing. It’s interesting to notice that their testing was their response to Job’s trials.
Hopefully in the coming weeks we will have an opportunity to look more closely at the last 2 groups of hearers – those growing among thorns and thistles, and those on the good soil. The final category is the one God wants us all to be in, for he wants us to bring forth fruit. His word will bring forth fruit in our lives as we believe it and obey it.
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