Mark 4:21-34

  1. Verse 21-25. What is the responsibility of the hearer:
    (a) for what he does with his knowledge, and
    (b) for his personal response to what he hears? What, therefore, are:
    (a) the divinely intended consequences of spiritual privilege, and
    (b) the conditions of spiritual progress?
    Cf. Mark 3:14
  2.  Verse 26-29. What is suggested in this parable concerning the character and purpose of:
    (a) the first coming, and
    (b) the second coming into the world of the Lord Jesus?
    Cf. Ps. 126:6. What truth do both of the parables illustrate here concerning the seed of God’s word when it is sown in human hearts?

 Note. Verse 26, 30. ‘Kingdom’: this word (Particularly its Old Testament antecedent) signifies primarily ‘sovereignty’ i.e., the sway exercised by a king, and only secondarily ‘realm’,i.e., the sphere or territory over which he rules. ‘This is what the kingdom f God is like…’ (verse 26) virtually means ‘the way God exercise his sway and works out his purposes among men is like this’.