Fire On Your Head

“But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” (Matt 13:23)

Recently I had heard about a number of tombs being found in Egypt in recent years which contained mummified remains of people.  In the tombs they also had jars which contained seeds that had been preserved in that state for thousands of years. Someone got the idea to sow them and harvest the corn and such contained in the seed to see if there was any significant difference between what they sowed in Egypt over 2700 years ago, compared to the seeds of those types of crops harvested today.  There was no difference, it yielded the same exact thing.  It didn’t matter how old the seed was, because apparently the seeds we’ve passed on from generation to generation, still contained the same crop as those from thousands of years earlier.  It didn’t expire or reach its ‘best before’ date.  All of the image of what that seed was intended to yield remained intact inside it for over 2700 years until it was harvested.

I thought this was simple yet amazing enough of an example of God’s kingdom worth adding to my series on the ‘imperishable seed‘ lately. I highly suggest going over those posts for the benefit of this entry if you’ve never read them before, as many of the Scriptures I’m referencing or taking for granted in this post I’ve been covering more in depth in previous posts for the foundation I’m building on in this one.

Another way I thought about this: I remember as a teenager the days when I used to make mix tapes – long before we had digital mp3 players and iPods (which I thank God for!).  I would take songs on CDs of mine that I wanted to make a mix tape with, and listen to the tape on my Sony Walkman while delivering newspapers.  The quality of the songs–because they were only a copy–would be degenerated compared to the original CD I obtained them from.  If I wanted to make a copy of that mix tape for somebody, I’d have to go to the original CDs again, because if I copied the tape–which itself was just a copy of songs–then the quality of that next tape would be even worse than mine was.  Such was the quality of copying using analog–it gets worse and worse the more you reproduce it from one copy to another.

Natural seed is not like such, and this is certainly not the case with the imperishable seed either (1 Peter 1:23)–it doesn’t diminish, lose anything, or degenerate from one generation to the next as it’s passed on.

The same seed of Christ planted in a believer who was changed by the blood of Christ having put their trust in Him 2000 years ago does the same work in a believer’s heart today.  The seed has not gotten worse the more it was spread.  Kingdom seed is not analog.  Its ‘DNA’ doesn’t change when it’s passed on from one person to another.  If what’s true of the natural seed is true of the spiritual imperishable seed of Christ in us, then it shines light on passages like when Jesus said in John 14:12  “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.”

We are capable of doing at the very least the works, signs and wonders Jesus did, because His imperishable seed–perfect image of His nature–has been implanted in us (1 John 3:9).  But Jesus didn’t stop there, He said we’d do greater works than these.  Whenever I talk to people of certain evangelical persuasions or denominations who don’t believe in the gifts of the Holy Spirit–tongues, healing, and what have you–as being for today, I no longer go to the book of Acts to point out that there’s no reason to believe such activity was to stop in the Church, but I point to this aspect of Christ’s character.  If He did certain things, and said we would also and more, AND has planted His seed in us, then nothing of the image in that seed has depreciated over the centuries or degenerated in quality since.  Nothing of His has been lost or diminished in us. He didn’t even say we’d do at least the same He did, but greater works.  I know that sounds blasphemous to some, and is an abused concept by some people, but it’s still what the Word of God teaches and shows.  So the idea it’s arrogant to say believers can heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons or do things Jesus did and said we’d do (Mark 16: 16-18) is strengthened, and “only He can do it” is nullified, because the very nature of Christ is implanted into us as believers when we’re born again.

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. (John 12:24)

Jesus, our ultimate example, left His abode in heaven, and entered our fleshly earth realm, and lived as a man.  He ‘fell into the earth’ and died, that He may be raised from the dead and conquer sin, and in a sense, plant a new work in mankind that would blossom and flourish and that work itself would overcome the sinful, carnal death nature.  Jesus died in order to be gloried, much like a seed.   Seed gives forth after its own kind, and Jesus’ likeness is reproduced into those of us where His seed is implanted.  Who He is, is spread and reproduced in us as we mature and grow and spread the kingdom of God with evangelizing and manifesting the nature of Christ through healing the sick, and giving freedom to the oppressed.

Likewise, in order to obtain the Christ seed, we ourselves die.  We have to give up our life and no longer be in control, or no longer own ourselves, in order to be a part of this spiritual realm.  In order to manifest this heavenly Christ-ruled kingdom, we die to ourselves, and live through Christ.  There can’t be any ounce of self left, because Christ’s nature abides in the believer.  He was not like ‘us’ in our sinful fallen state.  Therefore such sin nature must die–that nature must no longer be nurtured–but the seed of Christ in us watered and nurtured, and cultivated.  The seed of Christ on the inside of us is as holy as how sinful Adam’s seed inside us is evil–the nature that must be killed in order to mature in the nature of Christ.  Galatians 6:7-8 states “For whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.” All opportunities for this flesh nature to grow, or be nurtured, must be cut off.  I encourage reading a previous post for more about the importance of that.

What Exactly is IN the Seed?

“The seed is the word of God.” (Luke 8:11)  This being the case, I’m going to use the word ‘seed’ interchangeably with ‘the Word’ of God, and by no means is the following list exhaustive, but I just want to share a few ideas to drive the point home.

“And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish.” (1 Cor 15:37-39)

• It contains what it is to reproduce after, as we’ve already been establishing.

“The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.”(Mark 4:26-28)

• It contains the kingdom of God.  All that is necessary for revival and the kingdom of power spreading is found first in the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear…

“He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.  You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.” (2 Cor 9:10-11)

“Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.” (James 1:21)

“I write to you, young men, because you are strong,  and the word of God abides in you,  and you have overcome the evil one.” (1 John 2:14b)

• It contains your righteous nature and ability to live holy, and to overcome sin and the evil one, and salvation for our souls.  See also 1 John 3:8-10.

By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. (Hebrews 11:3)

“For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God” (2 Peter 3:5)

• It contains creative forces which create and give life.  As you can see, faith is mixed in with this word of God in order to bring forth any creation.  The same properties as mentioned in Hebrews 11:3 are true of seed.  The wood and leaves and fruit and all such things itself are not present in the seed, but the DNA is and in the right conditions, those things come forth out of the ground when it’s planted and nurtured.

I personally believe this ‘seed’ is where gifts, talents, skills, and our calling is located.  I won’t be too argumentative if someone disagrees with me, because I can’t completely ‘prove this’, but hear me out:  the same way each and every individual person has specific and unique DNA that makes them who they are, I believe the Lord does with this imperishable seed in all believers.  The same way that the seed in the womb of a woman contains all the information as to who the baby is and will become, its hair color, its personality, and other traits not just physical, I believe the spiritual seed implanted inside the believer contains all the spiritual versions of such DNA and it’s up to us to water and nurture that seed.  It’s up to us to edify, encourage and exhort each other as well (since we are all the collective Body of Christ) into maturity into such things as God has designed for us individuals to become in Him and in His Body.  That’s why some people are capable of not ‘realizing their potential’.  It’s not that some people fail, and others succeed because God is hyper-sovereign and picks and chooses some to be outpacing others, but because He’s deposited in us all we need, and allows us to be stewards of our own edification and growth.

The point of the seed is that it yields and gives forth after itself, and does not remain a seed.  Therefore in an upcoming post, I’ll share some more on how to extract that information from the seed and grow spiritually.

He said therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.” (Luke 13:18-19) 

God’s intention is not that we remain in seed form, but grow in such a manner as to produce fruit some thirty fold, some sixty and some a hundredfold.

May it be so in our lives!