Before we proceed further it will be necessary to call attention to an interpretation of

this parable which has a great deal of truth in it, but which may be pressed too far. There

are some who tell us that this parable of the Sower does not refer so much to the word

sown in the heart of the hearer, but to the environment in which the hearer (represented

by the seed) is placed. We must not summarily dismiss this from our notice, inasmuch as

there is certain amount of truth in the statement; but, like so many things, it is not all true.

If we use the R.V. instead of the A.V. we shall see a little more clearly that the seed sown

not only represents the word of the kingdom, but the children of the kingdom as well.

In Matt. 13: 18-23 we have the Lord's own interpretation of the parable. Note the

words in italics in the following extracts. "This is he that was sown by the wayside."

"And he that was sown upon rocky places, this is he that heareth the word." "And he

that was sown among thorns, this is he, &100:" "And he that was sown upon the good

ground, this is he that heareth the word." The same intermingling is seen in Mark 4: and

Luke 8: Nevertheless, both passages definitely tell us that the "seed" is the "word."

The primary meaning of the seed is certainly "the word," for the Lord Himself says so.

The inclusion of the hearer within the meaning is rather by implication than by definite

statement. It appears, then, that to fully understand the parable we must allow its double

application. When the application is to those who reject the word, then the seed sown is

the word of the kingdom, and the ground represent the characteristics of the hearers.

When the application is to those who are really children of the kingdom, then their

identity is lost in that of the seed sown--they are linked in type to the truth.

Then, the various grounds speak not of the state of heart of the hearers, but of their

environments during the various phases of the history of events.  A characteristic

example is found in the cases of Peter and Judas.  Satan had dealings with each

(Matt. 16: 22, 23; Luke 22: 3, 31). Peter denied the Lord with oaths and curses; Judas

betrayed Him. Peter went out and wept bitterly; Judas went and hanged himself. Peter

was a child of the kingdom, but for a while the thorns overcame him. Judas never was a

child of the kingdom (John 6: 70, 71), he was one of the thorns, or, as in the next

parable, one of the tares, and his heart is represented by the thorny ground itself.

It is evident that the great majority of the Pharisees, and indeed of the multitude that

came forth to be baptized of him (Luke 3: 7), did not understand the import of his

message and baptism, for looking upon them he cried, "O generation of vipers, who hath

warned you to flee from the wrath to come?" Their trust was in "Abraham their father,"

but John bade them "bring forth fruit meet for repentance."  These multitudes and

Pharisees, who would have submitted to the rite of baptism as some new ceremonial

which pleased their ritualistic self-righteousness, were repulsed by the stern rebuke of

John, and satan, taking advantage of the moment, snatched the seed away, and occupied

their heart the more for his own fell purposes, for later we find the same people, who

boasted of being "children of Abraham," called rather the "children of the Wicked One"

by the Lord in John 8: 44.