What does Mark 4:1–20 reveal about who God the Father is?
We learn that God is a King and he has a kingdom (Mark 4:11). This kingdom is only for those who listen to Jesus Christ and not for those who ignore him. We learn that God’s kingdom comes in a hidden way as the Word of God is proclaimed.
We also learn something of God’s sovereignty. As king, God can decide who will be part of his kingdom. By means of the preaching of the gospel, his kingdom is opened to some (those who believe) and shut to others (unbelievers).
What does Mark 4:1–20 reveal about what God the Son did in my place and on my behalf?
Jesus tells his parables in the hearing of Jewish leaders who want to have him killed (Mark 3:6). The hardening of the hearts of these leaders (along with the crowd, Mark 15:6–15) served the redemptive purposes of God. With their hearts hardened, they did not think twice about shouting,
Crucify him!
With their hearts hardened, they did not think twice about taking a murderer back into their community instead of releasing Jesus, the perfectly innocent Son of God.
As part of God’s perfect plan, the hardening caused by parables served for our salvation, it prepared the way to the cross where Jesus Christ bore the wrath of God in my place and on by behalf so that my sins (my hardness of heart) can be forgiven.
What does Mark 4:1–20 reveal about what God the Holy Spirit does in and through me?
Jesus Christ draws me to himself by the power of the Holy Spirit. As the Word of God is explained, the Spirit works powerfully within me to bring me to true repentance and faith (Romans 10:17). He also works in me to help me keep listening to Jesus and obeying him. Without the work of the Holy Spirit, my heart would remain hard as stone and I would not be able to persevere in the Christian faith.
1 Again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land.