Mark 4:29

But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come. BUT WHEN THE FRUIT IS BROUGHT FORTH [TO MATURITY], IMMEDIATELY HE PUTTETH IN THE SICKLE, BECAUSE THE HARVEST IS COME. This charmingly points to the transition from the earthly to the heavenly condition of the Christian and the Church....

21-34 These declarations were intended to call the attention of the disciples to the word of Christ. By his thus instructing them, they were made able to instruct others; as candles are lighted, not to be covered, but to be placed on a candlestick, that they may give light to a room. This parable of the good seed, shows the manner in which the kingdom of God makes progress in the world. Let but the word of Christ have the place it ought to have in a soul, and it will show itself in a good conversation. It grows gradually: first the blade; then the ear; after that the full corn in the ear. When it is sprung up, it will go forward. The work of grace in the soul is, at first, but the day of small things; yet it has mighty products even now, while it is in its growth; but what will there be when it is perfected in heaven!...

Verse Mark 4:29. _HE PUTTETH IN THE SICKLE_] αποστελλει, _he sendeth_ _out the sickle_, i.e. _the reapers_; the _instrument_, by a metonomy, being put for the _persons_ who use it. This is a common figure. It has been supposed that our Lord intimates here that, _as soon_ as a soul is made completely holy, it is _taken_ into the kingdom of God. But certainly the parable does not say so. When the corn is ripe, it is reaped for the _benefit_ of him who sowed it; for it can be of little or no _use_ till it be _ripe_: so when a soul is _saved_ from _all sin_, it is capable of being fully employed in the work of the Lord: it is then, and not till _then_, fully fitted for the Master's use. God saves men to the uttermost, that they may _here_ perfectly love him, and worthily magnify his name. To take them away the moment they a...

IMMEDIATELY HE PUTTETH IN THE SICKLE - This is the way with the farmer. As soon as the grain is ripe it is cut down. So it is often with the Christian. As soon as he is prepared for heaven he is taken there. But we are not to press this part of the parable, as if it meant that all are removed as soon as they are fit for heaven. Every parable contains circumstances thrown in to fill up the story, which cannot be literally interpreted. In this, the circumstance of sleeping and rising cannot be applied to Christ; and in like manner, the harvest, I suppose, is not to be literally interpreted. Perhaps the whole parable may be differently interpreted. The seed sown may mean the gospel which he was preaching. In Judea its beginnings were small; yet he would leave it, commit it to his disciples, and return to his Father. The gospel, in the meantime, left by him, would take root, spring up, and p...

EXPOSITION MARK 4:1 AND AGAIN HE BEGAN TO TEACH BY THE SEASIDE. This return to the seaside is mentioned by St. Mark only. From this time our Lord's teaching began to be more public. The room and the little courtyard no longer sufficed for the multitudes that came to him. The Authorized Version says that "a great multitude was gathered unto him." The Greek adjective, according to the most approved reading, is πλεῖστος the superlative of πολὺς,_ _and should be rendered "a very great" multitude. They bad probably been waiting for him in the neighborhood of Capernaum. HE ENTERED INTO A BOAT—probably the boat mentioned at Mark 3:9—AND SAT IN THE SEA, _i.e. _in the boat afloat on the water, so

BUT WHEN THE FRUIT IS BROUGHT FORTH,.... Unto perfection, and is fully ripe; signifying that when grace is brought to maturity, and faith is performed with power, and the good work begun is perfected; then, as the husbandman, IMMEDIATELY HE PUTTETH THE SICKLE; and cuts it down, and gathers it in; BECAUSE THE HARVEST IS COME; at death or at the end of the world, which the harvest represents: when all the elect of God are called by grace, and grace in them is brought to its perfection, and they have brought forth all the fruit they were ordained to bear, they will then be all gathered in; either by Christ himself who comes into his garden, and gathers his lilies by death; or by the angels, the reapers, at the close of time, who will gather the elect from the four winds; or the ministers of the Gospel, who shall come again with joy, bringing their sheaves with them; being able to observe...

CHAPTER 4 _ 1. Teaching by the Seaside. The Parable of the Sower. (Mark 4:1. Matthew 13:1; Luke 8:4 .)_ 2. The Word to shine forth in testimony. (Mark 4:21 .Luke 8:16 .) 3. The Parable of the Growth of the Seed and the Harvest. (Mark 4:26 .) 4. The Parable of the Mustard Seed. (Mark 4:30 .Matthew 13

The teaching in parables to the multitude is now resumed, and two further examples are given, those of the seed growing secretly and the mustard seed. The first is peculiar to Mk. Loisy interprets it thus: The kingdom of God is also a sowing whose inevitable growth is independent of men's will and even of the will of the sower. Like the labourer, Jesus sows the kingdom by preaching the gospel: it is not His work to bring the harvest, _i.e._ the complete coming of the kingdom, and one must not grow impatient if its coming does not follow at once: that is God's business.. It is none the less certain that the harvest will come without delay. This is the right line of interpretation; the emphasis falls, not on the gradual character of growth, but on its independence of human willing and desiring when once man has done his part. In the mustard-seed, attention is directed to the immense differ...

TEACHING IN PARABLES (Mark 4:1-2)...

IS BROUGHT FORTH. delivers itself up. PUTTETH IN. sentient forth. Greek _apostello._ App-174., Compare John 4:38....