The Biblical Illustrator - Mark 4:4-15
Mark 4:4-15Some fell by the wayside, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up.Though men be outward hearers of the Word, and do also in some sort understand what is taught, yet if their hearts be so hardened in sin and through Satan’s temptations that they are not affected and moved by it, it can never profit them. As seed sown upon a beaten path or highway cannot sink into the earth by reason of the hardness of it, nor take root or fructify; so the doctrine of the Word being preached... read more
Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments - Mark 4:1-41
Mark 4:12 . That seeing they may see, and not perceive. St. Luke gives the true sense of these words, which often occur. Acts 28:26-27. They mark, according to Dr. Lightfoot, the obduracy which fell on the jews, when they shut their eyes against the ministry and miracles of Jesus. On their wilfully doing this, God withdrew his grace. He quotes Procopius on Isaiah to the same effect. “The power of seeing was presented to them from the grace of him who was seen; hence, their not seeing, was... read more