“And he said, So is the Kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; and should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come.” -Mark 4:26-29.

Many of us in the past have overlooked the fact that nearly all of the teachings of the Redeemer appertain to the kingdom-his Messianic kingdom. Some of us indeed had gotten the unscriptural thought that Messiah’s kingdom would consist merely of a sovereignty in the hearts of his followers and in the present life.

Now we see the real import and connection of the Great Teacher’s numerous utterances on this subject. As he taught us to  pray, ‘Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth, even as it is done in heaven,” he meant that we should have in mind God’s glorious promise that eventually, through Messiah’s kingdom, ignorance, sin, and death will all be overthrown, and the willing and obedient of mankind will be released from these until “every knee shall bow and every tongue confess” to the glory of God.

Our Lord meant that we should connect this kingdom with the great promise made to Abraham, “In thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” The Master’s teachings and the message which he commissioned us to give in his name is the Gospel of the kingdom­ the message of coming glory, and the message that now God is selecting a “little flock” to be the spiritual seed of Abraham, joint-heirs with Jesus in the throne of that kingdom. Paul refers to this in Galatians 3:29: “And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

Today’s study sets before us a number of Jesus’ parables respecting the kingdom. The majority of these refer to the kingdom class of the present time rather than to the kingdom in  its fully developed state during the thousand years of his glory. All of God’s consecrated people, begotten of the Holy Spirit during this age-since Pentecost-constitute together the kingdom class, the kingdom in embryo-unfinished, undeveloped, and incomplete. Some of these embryo members of the kingdom may yet fail to make their calling and election sure, and they may become “castaways” as respects the glory and honor to which they have been called.

The Kingdom Development Slow

The…illustration of our lesson is that God’s kingdom in its present embryotic condition is of slow, gradual, methodical development, covering the entire period of this Gospel age. It is like seed cast into the ground, which brings its maturity after many days and varied experiences­ when it is finally harvested. Jesus and the Apostles did the seed sowing, not only for their own day but for the whole wheat class developed throughout this age. As Jesus explained in another parable, “The harvest is the end of the age.” The gathering for the heavenly garner will be accomplished by the first resurrection. R 5049 {1912)