A seed in the plant and animal kingdom broadly speaking, according to Merriam-Webster Dictionary,
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/seed, is a grain, ripened ovule or spore produced by a propagative plant structure, while milt, semen, a small egg (as of an insect), or a SPAT(such as an oyster) are propagative animal structures. Under the right conditions these all contain the unmanifested potential to recreate and produce more seed. Every seed, we have come to understand through science, contains a code already written within its structure, its genetic code that contains all the instructions, potential and power for the seed to create an exact replica of itself . But in order for that to happen certain conditions must be met. It'll require some form of substrate or soil, then it will require the right balance of sunlight for the upper structure as well as water and food which is absorbed from the soil by the seeds roots. The very first thing to be put out from the sprouting seed. A good solid foundation or root structure is vital to the health of the growing upper structure of the plant.
In the Spiritual realm it is no different as we'll soon discover in this post. Of course I don't ever want to claim to have it all figured out, as I am still searching like many others for that ultimate truth that will bring complete freedom. That said, to the best of my ability I want to endeavor to keep an open heart that will always remain teachable because, "Once you be indoctrinated, you quit thinking."
"They can’t say, ‘Here it is!’ or ‘There it is!’ You see, God’s kingdom is within you.” Luke 17:21 GW
The Hebrew word for seed is Zera and is defined as sowing, descendants, offspring, children, posterity, seed as referring to plants and animals as well as spermatozoon.
There are an infinite number of examples found throughout scripture because the Bible is seed as we will soon discover. Today I want to look at what are probably two of the most significant examples found in scripture, both found in Genesis, the first book of the Bible in the Old Testament. We'll look at Genesis 3:15 and the seed of the woman first,
"And I will put enmity between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.”
Notice we see two seed spoken of here, your seed, speaking to the serpent, and her seed, speaking to the seed of the woman. The seed of the serpent is representative of Lucifer or Satan, whom the vast majority of humanity worships knowingly or unknowingly and today still largely remains the god of this world even though he was defeated more than 2,000 years ago. But very few have a knowledge of that and many of those that do don't have the knowledge that they need to enforce that defeat.
Today, many embrace the scientific worldview which has eliminated any need for a belief in a creator or designer, much less one who wants to become intimately involved in a personal relationship with the pinnacle of His creation, man. So when God talks of seed here, what seed is he talking of?
In coming back to Genesis 3:15, many see this verse as the protevangelium, God’s first pronouncement of the Gospel and prophetic reference to the coming Christ who through His life, death and resurrection on the cross would defeat the enemy, Satan, and take back the authority the first Adam had given up.
The second seed is the seed of Christ or God Himself, when He breathed His life force or Spirit into man and he became a living soul. Gen. 2:7 That seed unfortunately died the day man bowed to the Satan and ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and would remain predominately dead or dormant in the vast majority of mankind until the birth, death and resurrection of Christ and the release of the Holy Spirit. We do see many examples of men and women in the Old Testament who were temporarily inhabited by the Holy Spirit, but today Christ is able to permanently indwell believers when we receive His life by faith, making Him Lord of our lives. Who is this Creator? He is the Written (Logos) and Spoken (Rhema) Word of God who became flesh in the person of Jesus Christ more than 2,000 years ago.
This is the seed which came down from above, from the higher invisible eternal spiritual realm, Heaven. God's seed sown into the man at the creation in the Garden when God breathed His Life and Spirit into Adam and that unfortunately died the day he ate of the wrong fruit. That seed would then remain dead or dormant until the fulfillment of the prophecy in Gen. 3:15 and the arrival of the Creator in Christ Himself through Mary’s virgin birth. A child not from the seed of man, but rather from the Seed of God through the power of the spoken Word received and accepted by faith and that came to her through the Angel Gabriel in Luke 1:38,
"Mary said, “I am the servant of the Lord. May it be unto me according to your Word.”
That Word or Seed implanted in Mary that manifested in the flesh as the Son of Man. The Creator Himself revealed in and through Jesus Christ who taught us not only through His Words, Parables and Teachings, but by His example to all humanity. His purpose, to perfectly fulfill the very Law He Himself had given to Moses and the nation of Israel on Mount Sinai millennia before. He was also the perfect fulfillment of all of the prophecies of all of the Old Testament prophets. Having fulfilled all the requirements of the Law and Prophets, He was then able to offer Himself as the perfect human sacrifice as only God Himself had the ability to fulfill the whole Law. Now that statement right there will and does rub a lot of people the wrong way. Don't know who first said it, but if the cat is hissing at you because you're rubbing its fur the wrong way, just stop, pick up the cat, turn it around and start rubbing it the other way!
Human sacrifice was never God's intention. These were the deeds of wicked, evil and lost men ruled by the god of this world. In fact it was never God's original intention to require animal sacrifices either. His sacrifice was to be the last sacrifice of any kind, human or animal. Hebrews 10:1-10 I believe the only sacrifice God requires of us today is to believe on the one whom He has sent. John 6:29
It is when we acknowledge by faith what He has already accomplished for us through His life, death and resurrection. Setting us completely free from ourselves and the power sin has had over our lives because of His great agape love for us.
But, this message won't and doesn't appeal to everyone. To fully follow Him means losing all of you, dying to yourself and many aren't willing to sacrifice themselves, fully, including me. Thankfully He meets us where we are because as with any seed after it has sprouted it takes time and the right conditions to grow and mature. It's the sick Jesus came to save and heal.
“Healthy people don’t need a doctor, but sick people do. I didn’t come to invite good people to be my followers. I came to invite sinners. (or the lost)” - Mark 2:17 CEV
With all that said, now I want to look at words as seeds according to the teaching of Jesus from His Word. Jesus uses parables which are simple stories that illustrate moral or spiritual laws. We'll start with one of those parables that refers to seed and soil and then I will discuss and show how Jesus the Word is the source of light, water and fertilizer for that seed in the soil in the spiritual, but which will manifest in the natural.
In the Gospels Jesus tells us that the seed is God’s Word, in Matthew 13:37 we see that the one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man (Jesus the Word). Bear in mind that as born again believers we are also sons and daughters of God by faith. In Mark 4:14 Jesus tells us that the Sower sows the Word and in Luke 8:11 Jesus says the parable is this, the seed is the Word of God. The very Seed spoken of and seen all throughout the Tanach became flesh and dwelt among His own people. John 1:14 yet they did not know Him.
"He was in the world, and the world came into existence through him. Yet, the world didn't recognize him." - John 1:11
If we jump back to Mark 4:26 we see , that the Kingdom of God is as if a Man should cast the seed upon the soil. So as we will see we are both the soil and the Sower!
The second example I want to explore and look at is the Seed of Abraham. In Genesis 12:1-3 we find God telling Abraham to leave his country, family and father's house and go to a land God will show him. He further declares that He will make of him a great nation, that He will bless those that bless Abraham and curse those that don't, and that in Him all the families of the earth will be blessed. The name Abraham means a Father of Nations and was given to him by God. Prior to God changing his name he was called Abram which means High Father or Exalted Father. Names carried great significance in the Bible and all had a deeper meaning beyond just the name. We see Paul speak about this in Galatians chapter 3, but I want to look specifically at verse 16,
"Remember the royal proclamation (covenant) God spoke over Abraham and to Abraham’s child? God said that his promises were made to pass on to Abraham’s “Child,” (or Seed) not children. And who is this “Child?” It’s the Son of promise, Christ himself!"
God proclaimed through His Word the coming Christ, first with the seed of Christ to Eve in Genesis 3:15 and then again to Abraham in Genesis 12:2, Gen. 15:4-5, Gen. 17:16, which is what Paul is referring to in Galatians 3. God's Words are seeds, they accomplish what He sends them forth to do. Isa. 55:11
Now the soil where the seed is planted embodies the lower temporal material earth realm and symbolically represents the women. The seed as we just discussed, that came down from heaven symbolically represents the man who came first. Adam (heaven) planting his seed in the woman (earth). The invisible eternal spiritual realm (Heaven) meeting and joining with the material temporal realm (Earth).
Unfortunately as we saw, that seed became contaminated and died when Adam chose to make a dumbazz choice after God had just finished telling Him that He was supposed to take dominion over everything in the creation. Instead he listened to his wife who listened to some serpent who was Satan in disguise, rather than listening to God. Man surrendered that authority to the serpent represented by Satan, also referred to as the adversary or accuser of the brethren. Many of us today are still making dumbazz choices that are causing all kinds of grief, pain and misery in our lives. We remain a slave to Egypt and it's broken and limited system. (the World)
The Bible or the Word of God is the Seed that contains all the potential to bring forth life and in fact has, because all things were created through Him (the Word) and without Him (the Word) nothing was made that has been made. John 1:3. It is full of pure potential and power, everything we need for Life and Godliness are found in it and through it we have the ability to become partakers of His divine nature. 2 Peter 1:3-4
What we discover in the parable of the Sower is that the seed is the Word of God and that we who hear the message of the Word or Gospel are different types of soil. Our hearts are soil; our spirit man where the seed of Christ or God’s Kingdom resides within is soil. Luke 17:21. But that dead or dormant seed contained within will only sprout, grow and thrive under the right conditions!
Proverbs 20:27 from the Jubilee 2000 says,
“The spirit of man is the fire of the LORD, which searches the secrets of the inward parts.”
The Literal Standard version reads,
"The breath of man [is] a lamp of YHWH, Searching all the inner parts of the heart."
While Matthew 3:11 states,
"He shall baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire."
speaking of Jesus and the Father.
We discover that in order for the spiritual seed within the soil to sprout and prosper and produce more seed it needs light, water and fertilizer or food just as it does in the natural. Spiritual laws operate the exact same as natural laws.
Genesis 1:16 says,
"God made the stars and two great lights: the larger light to rule over the day and the smaller light to rule over the night."
You could almost say that symbolically speaking the blazing Sun in the highest heavens that rules represents the Son who brings forth life both physically and spiritually, while the smaller lower light represents Satan or the darkness. Although there was a time when Satan was known as the Morning Star, Lucifer, an angel seated in the highest heavens with God, until he wanted to become his own god. Hmm sounds familiar, isn't that really the sin of humanity today? But I digress.
Let's look at light, vital for life both physically and spiritually. In the natural that life is given by our Sun, in the spiritual our life comes by the Son, Jesus the Word.
Psalms 84:11 says,
"For the Eternal God is a sun and a shield. The Eternal grants favor and glory; He doesn’t deny any good thing to those who live with integrity."
Jesus tells us in John 8:12 that,
"I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
While John 1:4 says,
“In Him was Life and that Life was the light of men."
John 12:46 He tells us further,
“I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness.”
These are just a few of many scriptures that point to Jesus as the source of light both physically and spiritually. Who is Jesus? He is the living Word of God, both the written Logos and the spoken Rhema.
"Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." Mat. 12:34
Again and again we'll see that everything point to Jesus, the Eternal Living Word. The giver of all life! In Acts 17:28 we’re told that,
“He gives us the power to live, to move, and to be who we are. “We are his children,” just as some of your poets have said” - CEV
Not just His children, but children with His seed implanted in us. Seed that needs to be watered given that water is also essential and vital to all life, both in the physical and spiritual realm. 1 Corinthians 10:4 tells us that they, the wandering Israelite’s in the desert,
“All drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.”
Jesus tells us in John 4:13-14 that just drinking natural water will leave us thirsty again,
“Everyone who drinks this water will become thirsty again. But those who drink the water that I will give them will never become thirsty again. In fact, the water I will give them will become in them a spring that gushes up to eternal life.”
He further declares in John 7:37-38
“On the last and most important day of the festival, Jesus stood up and shouted, “If you are thirsty, come to me and drink! Have faith in me, and you will have life-giving water flowing from deep inside you, just as the Scriptures say.”
Water speaks of new life, fertility, birth; it speaks of cleansing, refreshing, baptism, and ultimately, just as with the light, points to Jesus the living and active Word of God. Hebrews 4:12
The seed now has found some good soil (us), and we've watered it and given it some good (God) light (the Word) and the seed has sprouted. Now it needs to be fed some fertilizer or food. Does Jesus have anything to say about that? Indeed He did, because in John 6:32-35 we see Him tell the religious leaders of His day after they'd claimed that the manna in the desert was given my Moses,
“I assure you; it wasn’t Moses who gave the bread from heaven to you, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. The bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” They said, “Sir, give us this bread all the time!” Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”
Here again we see Jesus the Word claiming that He is the source of both the food and the water, which go hand in hand with the light whom Jesus also claimed to be the source of.
Jesus was referring to their scripture in Deuteronomy 8:3 where it says,
“He made you go hungry. Then he gave you manna, a kind of food that you and your ancestors had never even heard about. The Lord was teaching you that people need more than food to live—they need every word that the Lord has spoken.”
Now there’s a huge statement! It’s about more than just physical food, there is a part of all of us that is spiritual and that requires spiritual food! Jesus quotes this very scripture after fasting forty days in the desert where he is met by Satan who knows Jesus must be hungry, so he says to Jesus, paraphrasing, “Show us your power Jesus! Prove to us that you are the Son of God by turning these rocks into bread!” Matthew 4:3
How does Jesus respond? With the Torah, the living Word of God when He says, "
"Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word the proceeds out of the mouth of God. - Matthew 4:4
Clearly the adversary had no clue who Jesus was, because asking Him to turn the the rocks into bread when as we have just discovered, He is the Rock and the Bread John 6:35 is a moot point.
But, the light, the water or the food doesn’t just naturally flow to us and into our spirit man any more than bacon and eggs jump onto the griddle cook themselves and then climb out and jump into our mouth in the natural world. As previously stated we play a vital role in the outcome of any growth or harvest.
"Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path" The Psalmist tells us in Psalms 119:105
Jesus said we need to remain attached to the vine, Him the Word. John 15:4 says,
“Abide in Me, and I will abide in you. The branch cannot itself produce fruit, unless it abides on the vine. Likewise, you cannot produce fruit unless you abide in Me.”
To grow, stay healthy and produce fruit we must abide in and remain attached to the food source, the Tree of Life, the Word of God. As we feed on Him through His Word it brings light, water and food to our inner spirit man. That newly sprouted born again man (seed) of Christ starts to grow inside us. First the blade, than the ear, than the full corn in the ear. Mark 4:28
The Word of God is living and active. Hebrews 4:12, It is the sword of the Spirit. Ephesians 6:17, it never returns void Isaiah 55:11, it is Spirit and Life John 6:63 and on and on. We should want to be so saturated in the Word of God so that it flows out of our inner most being as a wellspring unto eternal life.
Everything points to the Sun in the natural and the Son in the Spiritual, the source of light and life, because that is where it all starts. And God said, “Let there be Light” The first Words He spoke which we'll explore further as we finish.
I do know without a doubt based on my own experience that this truth can and will set you free, if you can accept it, receive it by faith and then act on. Am I all the way there yet? NOT even close! To being completely free that is. But I’m a lot closer today since finding Christ 18 years ago and I am certain that when I find “His” perfect will for my life and “I” fully surrender to it, then I will find myself in that total freedom. Resting in all that He has already accomplished, living in His provision all found in the truth Jesus claimed was Him, the Word. The Word when rightly divided or understood and taught should bring nothing but victory, because He already has won the victory for us. But it requires knowledge, faith and action. James 2:14-26
As we approach the end let me say I am never going to even come close to covering All that Jesus the Word is in this Blog and that is not my intent. I have no theological or religious education beyond reading the Bible, my own in-depth study the past 25 years of this journey and listening to and reading good sound teachers. While most assuredly trusting the promise Jesus gave regarding the Holy Spirit in John 16:13,
"But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come."
I’m pretty much like Peter and John in Acts 4:3;
“When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.”
I can’t walk next to, talk to or see Jesus physically beside me today, but He can still walk with me, talk to me and I can still see Him today. He is as close to me as His Word is to me. If you abide in me and my Words abides in You Jesus said in John 15:7, ask what you will and it will be given to you.
The Sower Sows the WORD.
On a final note I mentioned we'd come back to the first Words God spoke and explore what science says versus what the Bible says about the initial creation of our Universe.
Jesus tells us in Luke 8:11 in essence that our entire existence is the result of a seed planted, God planted that seed when He created the heaven and the earth. Science calls it the BIG Bang, I call it Hebrews 11:3;
"Through faith we understand that the world was made by the Word of God. Things we see were made from what could not be seen."
Some Big Bang theorist call it a singularity which they believed contained all the energy and space time of the universe. I guess so! As I researched this I came across a very recent article which I will link at the end. He explains that what I call a singularity was in fact our Universe all condensed, furled and curved into a small ball (hmm, Seed?), a trillion times smaller then a proton. I don't know how they come up with a number the mind can't even wrap it's head around but it just speaks to how amazing and utterly awesome the Creator is! Interestingly the writer states that Science doesn't know where that initial ball came from. Makes me think of this scripture from Paul in Acts 17:23,
"For as I walked through your city and looked at the places where you worship, I found an altar on which is written, 'To an Unknown God.' That which you worship, then, even though you do not know it, is what I now proclaim to you."
That singularity as science calls it (or Seed), contained all the energy, all the potential, everything the universe would ever need to bring forth the life we see today. He says that in it's very earliest stages it was a battle of the anti Quarks and Quarks, with the Quarks slightly out numbering the anti Quarks, eventually leaving just enough Quarks to become all the universe would need as seed. It plays out just as I would imagine, a place in the earliest moments full of pure chaos, formlessness and void of any light or material matter. "The earth was formless and empty, and darkness was over the surface of the deep" Genesis 1:2 tells us. Those words formless and empty in the original Hebrew speak to chaos, formlessness, void, darkness, but a place full of pure energy and potential in unmanifested form. The writer says it was a tiny ball (or Seed) that already contained all the universes, of course just not fully manifested yet. As I said earlier all the ingredients or instructions were already written within.
As it grew in size and age it started to become self sustaining, the law of seed time and harvest. The moment that Singularity or Seed exploded, not in a fireball or big bang, but rather in a very rapid expansion into simple life as creation began. The Code, all the Instructions, everything it would ever need was already written into it in the language of the Logos. His article is a marvelous read of the very earliest moments of our Universe to the present. He could be describing how a seed sprouts and grows and re-seeds, only on a Universal scale. Everything in the Universe operates under the same laws. He even uses the words seeds at one point. Everything produces after it's kind. Yet Scientists and those that choose not to believe can’t accept that a Designer and Creator are the result. Paul tells us in Romans 1:19-20,
"That what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse."
Our Universe is expanding, but not only expanding, it’s expanding at an accelerated pace. It’s growing and thriving, through a continual cycle of birth, life, death and resurrection to new life, just as it is in our world. Genesis 8:22,
"While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, Cold and heat, Summer and winter, And day and night Shall not cease.”
You, me, everyone, everything was written into the code at the foundation or creation of the world when God's works were finished and after which He rested Gen. 2:2, Heb. 4:3b. There is nothing more to sow or add as that seed that is our universe already had everything it would need written within, the Logos of God.
"Before you were in your Mother's womb I knew you." - Jerimiah 1:5
I would to say a big thank you and shout out to my editors and cheerleaders Katherine and Joel who I was blessed to cross paths with earlier this year. We all have something to teach each other, that is why we have crossed paths. "
"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the way that leads to life, and only a few find it.…" - Matthew 7:13-14
