Growing in Good Soil

Isaiah 11:1–9 assures us that the knowledge of the Lord will fill the earth as the waters cover the sea. His special revelation, the Holy Scriptures, will be known in every place, for we cannot know God truly without the full unveiling of His character and His plan of salvation as given in His Word (Rom. 10:14–17). Since the first advent of Christ, the Word has gone forth, and while there are regions and people groups that have yet to hear the message of the one true God, the gospel has been proclaimed in many places.

We know, however, that not everyone who has heard the Scriptures faithfully taught comes to faith. What accounts for this? In the parable of the soils, Jesus explains that a person’s response to the Lord’s truth depends on that person’s heart.

Before we consider the parable and its explanation, let us first consider Jesus’ comment on the purpose of parables that He gives before interpreting for the disciples the various kinds of soils. Quoting Isaiah 6:9–10, our Lord notes that He speaks in parables to veil the truth from some people (Mark 4:10–13). The Word of God always accomplishes the purpose He has for it (Isa. 55:10–11), but that purpose is not always salvation. Some people harden their hearts against the Lord’s truth when they hear it, and this occurs under God’s sovereign will. In other words, God has not failed or erred when people reject His Word; rather, this rejection is included in His overall plan for creation.

In the parable, Jesus draws an analogy between people’s different responses to the Word and four different kinds of soils. Some hearts are so hardened that the gospel does not penetrate at all and Satan quickly steals it away from them, as birds eat up seed that cannot take root in the compacted soil of footpaths. Other people may show an initial response of joy, but persecution causes them to fall away because the heart was not sufficiently fertile to allow the gospel to take full root. Still others have hearts that seem to receive the gospel and produce some yield, but the cares of life choke out growth just as thorny weeds can smother healthy plants. Their hearts are not singularly committed to God and His ways but are more preoccupied with the cares of life. Finally, many people who hear the Word yield much spiritual fruit because the gospel takes deep, permanent root in their hearts, as plants get firmly established in good soil. Such hearts are the gift of the Lord to us in regeneration (Mark 4:1–9, 14–20; see Ezek. 36:26; John 3:1–8).