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Precious Seed - part 1 of 3 (KJ &Amplified Versions) That “like begets like” is obvious from Genesis thorough Revelation. Physical seed produces physical harvest and spiritual seed produces spiritual harvest. On the third day, at God’s creative word, “The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kind, and trees bearing fruit in which was their seed, each according to its kind” {Gen 1: 12}. The principle of “first the natural, then the spiritual” is also apparent as Creator God provided for man’s physical sustenance and continuance through the means of seed. “And God said, See I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of the land, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food” {Gen 1:29}. In the fullness of time, He provided the Redemptive Seed Who became the Bread of Life. After the fall, God prophesied of the hostility between the serpent’s seed and the promised godly seed. “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring (seed) and her offspring (seed)” {Gen. 3:15}. Both physically and spiritually, we bear the image of the seed from which we are created, a truth indicated by the distinction between the first Adam and the last Adam: “The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven. And as we have borne the image of the earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly” {I Cor 15:47}. “You have no idea!” Of late, these words have been God’s way of stimulating me to remain faithful in the little things. Reminding me of multiplied ripples, the Comforter showed me that that as sowers of spiritual seed, there is no way we can predict or measure the outcome. To confirm this truth, I received a card encouraging me to keep planting tiny seeds of kindness and thoughtful gestures. These I interpreted as the words and deeds stemming from the growing seed of the indwelling Christ, actions not motivated in order to become righteous, but resulting from the righteousness of Christ already planted within. “He [the benevolent person] scatters abroad, he gives to the poor; his deeds…will go on and endure forever! And [God] Who provides seed for the sower and bread for the eating will also provide and multiply your [resources for] sowing, and increase the fruits of your righteousness…”{2 Cor 9:9-10}. Recently, I heard the Holy Spirit ask, “Are you willing to be seed?” A seed cannot reproduce without first undergoing unfathomable change. In like manner, we become manifestations of the life of Christ only as we yield to the transformation process from within. The apostle Paul echoes Gen 1:11-12 regarding God’s sovereignty in selecting the type of seed (body) and in directing the transformation process the seed undergoes. “Every time you plant seed you sow something that does not come to live (germinating, springing up and growing) unless it dies first. Nor is the seed you sow, then in the body which it is going to have [later], but it is a naked kernel, perhaps of wheat or some of the rest of the grains. But God gives to it the body that He plans and sees fit, and to each kind of seed a body of its own” {I Cor 15:36-38}. Referring both to Himself and to all who would follow Him, Jesus said, “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit” {John 12:24}. Isaiah had prophesied of the Messiah’s death which would produce a spiritual harvest:“…it was the will of the Lord to bruise Him…When You and He make Him an offering for sin [and He has risen from the dead, in time to come], He shall see His spiritual offspring {Is 53:10}. As “partakers of the divine nature” {2 Peter 1:3}, “we have been regenerated – born again – not from mortal origin (seed, sperm) but from that is immortal by the ever living and lasting Word of God” {I Peter 1:23} Ishmael and Isaac both came from the loins of Abraham, but only Isaac was designated as the child of promise. Those descendents of Abraham who were “called and counted through the line of Isaac” were considered by God “the children of Abraham…That is to say, it is not the children of the body [of Abraham] who are made God’s children, but it is the offspring to whom the promise applies that shall be counted [as Abraham’s true] descendents” {Rom 9:7-8}. In the same way, all men are created by God, but not all are God’s children. “That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed” {Rom 9:8} “But we, brethren, are children [not by physical descent, as was Ishmael, but] like Isaac born in virtue of promise. Yet [just] as at that time the child (of ordinary birth,) born according to the flesh, despised and persecuted him [who was born remarkably,] according to the promise and the working of] the (Holy) Spirit, so it is now also” {Gal 4:28-29}. Are we not remarkably born through Christ who came to earth and “took on him the seed of Abraham” {Heb 2:16}? And are we not heirs of the promise? “And if you belong to Christ (are in Him, Who is Abraham’s Seed), then you are Abraham’s offspring and (spiritual) heirs according to promise” {Gal 3:29}. What a startling yet simple answer to Malachi’s question of why God ordained man and wife become one flesh: “That he might seek a godly seed” {Mal 2:15}. Through union with His Church, Christ is still seeking a godly seed. Seed has no say over where it is sow, how it is sown, when it is sown or how long it must remain hidden, with no visible evidence of fruitfulness. As God’s seed, we must abandon ourselves to His control so that He can sow us where and when He will, using whatever means He will to grow and transform us. Then He alone will receive the glory for the harvest that comes forth. As seed sown, our destiny may range from daily dying to self to actual martyrdom. “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints” {Ps 116:15}. Are we willing to be seed? -Ruth French January Newsletter 2003 | Fretting | Take the Land Pastor's Journal January 2002 | Bravery | Precious Seed part 1 of 3 |
Biblical Counseling for Leaders
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