Seeds are tiny things. It would be easy to overlook them, and not realize how critical they are to our lives. But imagine being without them for just one season. If that were to happen, then the following season… None of us would eat!
But that would be a minor issue compared to where we would be without one special Seed: Jesus. As we follow through the Bible, we see a continuous story of Him and the crop that He produces. The idea traces through two connotations of the word “seed”: First, “descendant”, then “the Word of God”.
Seed = Descendants, specifically one special Descendant
The Bible describes the bloodline of the promised Messiah, the One who would right all the wrong caused by sin. That bloodline becomes increasingly focussed through the generations. Jesus can trace His heritage back through all those promises.
Seed of the woman
The first promise is very early on in Genesis, immediately after Adam and Eve made their fatal choice. God told Satan:
And I will put enmity
Genesis 3:15
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her seed;
He shall bruise you on the head,
And you shall bruise him on the heel.
Satan was put on notice that his days were numbered. One would come to crush him. This Savior would not escape unscathed, though: Satan would be able to “bruise him on the heel”, a painful wound but not a final one. It would be a very uneven battle.
Seed of Abraham
The second promise was to Abraham, the patriarch from whom all of the Jewish nation was descended.
…indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed…
Genesis 22:17-18
Somewhere around 2000 years later, the Apostle Paul would note that this promise was not just a general one about all of Abraham’s descendants. It was specific to one particular descendant.
Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as referring to many, but rather to one, “And to your seed,” that is, Christ.
Galatians 3:16
Seed of David
The third promise was to King David, a descendant who lived several hundred years after Abraham.
I have made a covenant with My chosen;
Psalm 89:3-4
I have sworn to David My servant,
I will establish your seed forever
And build up your throne to all generations.
This tells us that a Seed from David’s line will be an eternal King.
Parable of the Sower
In Matthew 13:1-23, repeated in Mark 4:1-20 and Luke 8:4-15, Jesus told the story of a sower whose seed landed in several different environments. Some fell on hard ground where it was not able to sprout at all; some fell on shallow, rocky soil where it sprouted but then died for lack of deep roots; some came up but was choked out by thorns; and some landed in good soil where it was able to grow fully into a healthy crop.
To His listeners in an agrarian society, the truth that the ground where the seed falls — whether it is a hard road, shallow and rocky, thorns and weeds, or fertile soil — determines the resulting fruit would have been “Well, duh!” obvious. But His true point was less obvious to them.
As Jesus explained to His disciples when they asked, the seed in the parable is “the word of God” (Luke) or “word of the kingdom” (Matthew) or just “word” (Mark). Listeners who don’t really absorb that word, or who engage it only in a shallow way, or who let distractions drive it off their radar will not be able to grow fully; sooner or later they will die before producing anything. Only those who let God’s word become deeply rooted within them will become a valuable crop.
The True Seed
But, wait! Jesus — the Seed of Eve, then of Abraham, then of David — is also the living Word of God. Just like spoken or written words (actually even more so), He communicates God’s heart to us.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:1
More than to just the text of Scripture, then, it is a person’s reaction to Jesus Himself that determines the resulting fruit in their lives. Are they the spiritual equivalent of road, rocks, thorns or fertile soil? He is the Seed that is introduced into whatever environment they provide. They have the choice of whether or not to let Him in to produce life-giving results.
Unless a seed dies, it can’t bring forth new life.
And how does that seed become fruit? First, it dies:
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.
John 12:24
This quote is from John 12:23-50, which records Jesus’ final message after Palm Sunday and before Passover. That message foretold His death and detailed His mission one last time: “I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness.” (John 12:46)
Jesus knew that He was going to give up His life. But He also knew that doing so would “bear much fruit”. His death would bring down the barrier that sin causes between mankind and God. In its place, the result would be productive lives now reconciled to God.
When Jesus died, He brought life to us.
Later, the Apostle Peter would remind his readers that they owed their new spiritual life to Jesus, the Seed who died but rose again.
…for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God.
1 Peter 1:23
Again, remember that it is Jesus who is the Living Word of God. He is also the One who says: “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.” (John 15:8)
What Fruit?
What is the fruit that is produced by a relationship with Jesus? In this life, it includes things like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5:22-23) plus also goodness and righteousness and truth (Ephesians 5:8-10). As Paul prayed for the believers at Philippi:
And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ; having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
Philippians 1:9-11
That is just the beginning, though. The entire crop cycle will not be completed until Jesus returns to gather us to our eternal home with Him (1 Corinthians 15:20-26).
What a harvest that will be!
