Scripture Reading: 1 Pet. 1:23; 1 John 3:9; Mark 4:26-29; 2 Pet. 1:1, 4-11
Ⅰ
The seed of life, the divine seed, is the embodiment of the divine life and includes all things related to the divine life—1 Pet. 1:23; 1 John 3:9; John 12:24.
Ⅱ
The intrinsic element of the entire teaching of God's eternal economy is that the Triune God in humanity, the wonderful Christ as the Spirit of the glorified Jesus, is sown into God's chosen people as the seed of life, the seed of God, so that He might grow in them, live in them, develop in them, and be expressed from within them as the farm of God for the building up of the church as the house of God and the kingdom of God—Mark 4:11-20, 26-29; Matt. 16:18; 1 Cor. 3:9; 1 Pet. 1:23; cf. Deut. 22:9.
Ⅲ
The New Testament reveals that the Triune God has been incarnated in order to be sown into His chosen people and then to develop within them into a kingdom; this is the intrinsic element of the entire teaching of the New Testament—John 1:14; Col. 2:9; Mark 4:26-29; Rev. 11:15; 21:2:
A
The kingdom of God is Christ Himself as the seed of life sown into us, growing in us, spreading in us, and maturing in us until there is a full harvest—the man-ifestation of the kingdom—Mark 4:26-29; Matt. 13:43:
１
This is revealed in the parable of the seed in Mark 4:26-29:
ａ
The man in verse 26 is the Son of God as the Sower who came to sow Himself as the seed of life in His word (v. 14) into men's hearts so that He might grow and live in them and be expressed from within them.
ｂ
The seed is the seed of the divine life sown into the Lord's believers— 1 John 3:9; 1 Pet. 1:23.
ｃ
The casting of the seed on the earth indicates that the kingdom of God, which is the issue and goal of the Lord's gospel, and the church in this age (Rom. 14:17) are a matter of the life of God, which sprouts, grows, bears fruit, matures, and produces a harvest—Mark 4:26.
ｄ
Christ establishes the kingdom by sowing Himself as the seed of life into believing people so that the kingdom may grow; this is absolutely a matter of the growth in life, not of our work—1 Pet. 1:23; 1 John 3:9; Matt. 13:8.
ｅ
The seed of the kingdom is Jesus, and the development of the seed in the aggregate of the believers is the kingdom; this aggregate is the church— Rom. 14:17.
２
The kingdom of God is actually the God-man, the Lord Jesus, sown as a seed into the believers and developing into a realm over which God can rule as His kingdom in His divine life—Luke 17:20-21; Mark 4:3, 26-29.
３
The Lord Jesus, who is the embodiment of the Triune God, came to be the kingdom of God by sowing Himself as the seed of the kingdom into God's chosen people—Col. 2:9; Luke 17:20-21; Matt. 13:3-23:
ａ
God's life, which is Christ Himself, is the seed of the realm of the divine life that develops into the kingdom for His ruling—Mark 4:3, 26-29.
ｂ
The One who has been sown into us as a seed is the kingdom gene; the full development of this kingdom gene will be God's eternal kingdom in the new heaven and new earth—Rev. 21:1-2.
４
After this seed has been sown into the believers, it will grow and develop within them into the kingdom of God, which is for the fulfillment of God's eternal purpose and also for their blessing and enjoyment—Col. 1:13.
B
We need to experience the development of the divine life and the divine nature contained in the divine seed that has been sown into us so that we may have a rich entrance into the eternal kingdom—2 Pet. 1:1, 4-11:
１
The development of the kingdom within us is our entering into the kingdom of God—vv. 5-11.
２
We have been allotted the wonderful equally precious faith, and this faith is an all-inclusive seed—v. 1:
ａ
All the divine riches are in this seed, but we must be diligent to develop them; to grow to maturity is to develop what we already have—vv. 1-8; 3:18.
ｂ
By developing the virtues in 2 Peter 1:5-7, we grow in life, and we will eventually reach maturity, be full of Christ, and be qualified and equipped to be kings in the coming kingdom—Eph. 4:13-15; Col. 2:19; 2 Pet. 1:11.
ｃ
We need to have the full development and maturity from the seed of faith, through the roots of virtue and knowledge, the trunk of self-control, and the branches of endurance and godliness, to the blossom and fruit of brotherly love and love—vv. 5-7.
３
The ultimate development of the divine nature within us is love—agape, the Greek word used in the New Testament for the divine love, which God is in His nature—v. 7b; 1 John 4:8, 16.
４
We should be diligent to pursue the growth and development of the divine life and divine nature in the divine seed, the seed of the kingdom, for a rich entrance into the eternal kingdom—2 Pet. 1:10-11:
ａ
Through the bountiful supply that we experience and enjoy in the develop-ment of the divine life and divine nature contained in the seed of life (vv. 3-7), an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord will be richly and bountifully supplied to us—v. 11.
ｂ
Apparently, it is we who enter into the eternal kingdom; actually, the entrance into the eternal kingdom is supplied to us richly through our growth in life and through the growth and development of the kingdom seed within us—Mark 4:26-29.