Luke 8:6-10

Luke 8:6 (KJB)
And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture.

Then some of the seeds had fallen on places of stone. This does not indicate that the field was filled with stones because before it can be readied for planting, it has to be cleared of anything which could cause a hand plow to get stuck. What is in view here is the soil which looks like the other soil, but the difference is that underneath is a plate of rock which has only a small layer of soil on top giving the appearance that it is fine for planting. The shallowness of the soil on top of the rock was enough for the plants to sprout immediately. This would be in contrast to those plants where the seed fell on ground which was deeper and would take a little longer to sprout.

Luke 8:7 (KJB)
And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it.

(Isa 32:13 KJV) Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers; yea, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city: No matter how one keeps the fields free of weeds, they will always return. One thing this field had was thorns and those thorns had choked the seed which was sown on it. Obviously, part of the field was not tilled correctly and there were some roots left of thorn and brier bushes which grew rapidly and caused the seeds of the good plants to be choked and the result of choking is death. The thorn plants would have robbed all the nutrition from the good seed, just as weeds take sustenance from flowers or vegetable plants. That is why gardens must be weeded on a regular basis.

Luke 8:8 (KJB)
And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold. And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

There was much wasted seed in the way this sower had sown, however, he planted some of the seeds on good soil and they grew properly. The results that there was a harvest in spite of the fact that much of the plants did not germinate on the bad soil. The seed goes into the ground a tiny item and then when the plant comes to fruition, the result is a great harvest from thirty fold to one hundred fold. A fold means something that is multiplied by. When I was in the foods business, we had raw materials which were two-fold, three-fold, etc. The higher the fold, the stronger the raw material.

Jesus now tells those who have ears to hear, to hear. This is not speaking of the physical hearing but is speaking of spiritually hearing the message which is behind the parables. Those who have spiritual ears are those whom God has qualified to hear spiritual things. Those who have spiritual ears are those who are the saved because only they would understand the true spiritual nature of seed sowing which is the propagation of the Word of God to the masses. One person hears and understands the Gospel, while another hears and has no idea what is being taught, because they have not been qualified to understand spiritual things. (1 Cor 2:14 KJV) But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

Luke 8:9 (KJB)
And his disciples asked him, saying, What might this parable be?

The fact that Jesus used the sower and seed as His focus probably did not cause any misunderstanding on the part of the disciples. What they wanted to know was the application of the parable. This parable taught that the seed sower had wasted much seed but in the end, there was still a great harvest of one hundred fold. What is in view is that many evangelistic attempts may seem to be wasted but there will eventually come that great harvest and therefore the Christian, the sower, should never be disheartened but continue to plant those seeds and let the Lord apply them where He desires.

Luke 8:10 (KJB)
And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand.

Here Jesus states to the disciples that the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven will be given only to those whom the Lord Jesus saves but to the rest of the unbelieving world, the mysteries of that Kingdom are withheld. This is a form of election where only those who are saved are privileged to know the mysteries while the unsaved will never come to the truth of these mysteries. Divine truths are considered mysteries because apart from the indwelling Holy Spirit, a person will be unable to understand them. When it speaks of the Kingdom of God here, it also includes all aspects of the Gospel. (Eph 3:4 KJV) Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) Another mystery is the mystery of Christ who was withheld in times past but is now revealed. That revelation is for the believers only as we saw that the Pharisees, who were supposed to be experts in the law and the Scriptures, did not recognize Christ because He was the mystery withheld.  Jesus had done amazing miracles from healing the sick to raising the dead right in their presence but they had rejected the works and His teachings. Since they had shown themselves to be rebellious, Jesus now spoke to them in parables. It was not because they could not hear, see, or understand since many miracles were done right in their sight but the fact was their hearts were so hardened, that they would not see, hear, or understand. It was willful rebellion which caused this situation.

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