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The Spirit of Prophecy Volume 2
Thus Christ represents the characters of those whom he came to
teach, in a brief and comprehensive parable. The worldly-minded, the
evil-disposed, the hard-hearted, are all exhibited to the minds of his
hearers. He thus answers the question that we often hear today: Why
was the work of Christ productive of such meager results, during his
personal ministry upon earth? Miracles of goodness and mercy marked
his life; but while he healed the afflicted, and cast out the demons that
persecuted men, he left to themselves the work of correcting the evils
of their natures. He instructed them how to unite their human efforts
with his divine power, and triumph through his strength over the sins
that beset them.
This experience was necessary in order to give moral power to the
Christian character and fit it for the courts of Heaven. Jesus employed
no miraculous agency to compel men to believe in him. They were left
to choose or reject him, of their own free will. No direct power was
to force them into obedience, and destroy the free moral agency that
God has given to man. The parable of the sower plainly sets forth the
tendencies of the human heart, and the different classes with which
Christ had to deal, and also explains the reasons that his ministry was
not more successful in its immediate effects.
The parables of Jesus were designed to arouse a spirit of inquiry
which would result in a clearer exposition of the truth. As he was thus
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instructing his disciples in the meaning of his words, the people again
gathered about to listen, and his teachings were received and cherished
in the minds of many who heard them. These discourses of Jesus were
not merely to a class of inferior minds; but there were intelligent and
cultivated persons present who were capable of the closest criticism.
Scribes, Pharisees, doctors, rulers, lawyers, and the representatives
of all nations, were there to hear; yet there were none to gainsay his
words in all that vast assembly.
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