In this message we shall consider a matter that is very mysterious. A mystery is something that cannot easily be understood. The mystery we shall consider in this message is the mystery of the Lord Jesus as the Sower, the seed, and the kingdom. The Sower, the seed, and the kingdom are all part of a wonderful, all-inclusive Person, the Lord Jesus Christ. As we shall see, in the Gospel of Mark the Sower is a person, the seed is a person, and the kingdom is a person.
In Luke 17:20 the Lord was “questioned by the Pharisees as to when the kingdom of God comes.” In His answer He said to them, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, Look, here! Or, There! For behold, the kingdom of God is among you.” When considered along with Luke 17:22-24, these verses prove that the kingdom of God is the Savior Himself, who was among the Pharisees when He was asked by them concerning the kingdom. Because the Lord Himself is the kingdom, wherever He is, there is the kingdom of God.
After the Lord Jesus was baptized, the Spirit descended upon Him. Then the Lord went forth in His move to work, to minister. We have seen that with Him there was no difference between life and work. His life was His work, and His work was His life. We may say that the Lord Jesus lived His work; He lived a ministry. The Lord lived a life of preaching, teaching, casting out demons, healing the sick, and cleansing the lepers. With Him there was just one thing—His life, which was His work, His move, and His ministry. Whatever the Lord did, whatever He spoke, and wherever He went were all part of His life.
As the Lord Jesus moved on earth, living a life of God, He preached the gospel to the miserable people, He taught the truth to those in darkness, He cast out demons from the possessed ones, He healed the sick, and He cleansed the leper. This is portrayed in chapter one of the Gospel of Mark. Then in Mark 2 and 3 we see that the Lord Jesus brought people into the forgiveness of sins and into joyfully feasting with Himself as their righteousness to cover them outwardly and as their life to fill them inwardly. Then He became their satisfaction and liberation.
In chapter four of Mark the Lord Jesus went to the seashore. Mark 4:1 says, “And again He began to teach beside the sea; and a very great crowd was gathered to Him, so that He got into a boat to sit in the sea, and all the crowd were on the land facing toward the sea.” Here the boat signifies the church, the land signifies the Jewish nation, and the sea signifies the Gentiles.
For the Lord Jesus the boat in Mark 4 became His Holy of Holies. When some hear this, they may say, “How can you say that a boat became the Holy of Holies for the Lord Jesus? The Holy of Holies must be in the temple.” To this I would say that whether a certain place is the Holy of Holies does not depend on the place itself; rather, it depends on God. If God is in a certain place, that place is the Holy of Holies. This means that, since the Lord Jesus is the very God, the boat in which He was speaking in Mark 4 was the Holy of Holies. When the Lord was speaking from the boat, it was actually God who was speaking. In the Old Testament God spoke in the Holy of Holies, from the covering of the ark. By the time of Mark 4, that Holy of Holies had been passed over by God, and the new Holy of Holies was the boat where the Lord Jesus was.
If you do not believe this, it may be an indication that you still have not been terminated. If you have been terminated, you will see that in Mark 4 the disciples were with the Lord Jesus in the boat that was the Holy of Holies. Remember, the One in this boat speaking the word was actually the very God. The God who spoke in the Holy of Holies was now speaking in the boat. In this Holy of Holies a Man was speaking, and this Man was the speaking God.