Mark 4:26-34

THE PROGRESSIVE GRACE IN THE HEART

Mark 4:26-34. “And He said, Thus is the kingdom of God as if a man may cast seed upon the ground, and he may sleep, and it springs up, night and day, and the seed germinates and grows, while he did not know it. For the earth spontaneously brings forth fruit, first the blade, then the ear, and then the full corn in the ear, and when the fruit may develop, immediately he sendeth forth his sickle, because the harvest is at hand.” While the Divine economy, like the vegetable world, beginning with germination, grows on to maturity, yet, as we here see, periods and epochs are recognizable in the progressive development. The appearance of the blade marks germination

i.e., regeneration; the formation of the wheat-head, sanctification, which is the fruit, as above revealed; finally, the full corn in the ear i.e., the ripening of the wheat-heads symbolizes glorification, the consummating work of the Holy Ghost, preparatory for the heavenly harvest, when the saints are gathered into the glorified presence of God.