Blossoms of Hope
"And
He
taught them many things by parables."
-MARK
4:2 [KJV]
The
Scripture employs two beautiful figures to illustrate the reception
of the divine testimony. One is the committing of the seed to the
ground, as in the parable of the sower. The husbandman scatters the
seed in the bosom of the earth, and the ground having been previously
ploughed and reduced to a beautiful tilth, opens its bosom to receive
the grain. After a little time the seed begins to germinate, to
strike a root downward, and shoot a germ upward; as the Lord speaks,
"First the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the
ear."
This
emblem beautifully represents how the testimony of Jesus Christ finds
an entrance to the soul, takes root downward and carries a shoot
upward. The root downward is into the depths of a tender conscience,
and the shoot upward is the aspiration, breathing, and longing of the
soul for the living God.
The
other figure is that of grafting. "Receive," says
James, "with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to
save your souls." Now when a scion is first put into the
stock, after a little time sap begins to flow out of the stock into
the scion, and this sap unites the two together. So it is spiritually
when the soul receives the testimony of Christ. The testimony of
Christ is received into a broken heart, as the scion is inserted into
and received by the stock. As, then, life flows out of the stock into
the scion, it creates and cements a sweet and blessed union with
God's word and Him of whom the word testifies. Thus it grows up into
a living bough, which brings forth blossoms of hope, leaves of a
consistent profession, and fruit of a godly life.
-Gospel
report by preacher J.C. Philpot (1802-1869 A.D.)
January
26th, EARS FROM HARVESTED SHEAVES
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