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Seeds Still Work After 2,000 Years

Researchers recently revealed that they had discovered date palm seeds in some archaeological excavations in the Judean Desert near the Dead Sea.  These date palm seeds were dated to be 2,000 years old.  Think about that: ancient seeds of date palm trees that were determined to be from around New Testament times.  Questions may have come to mind in finding these seeds: (1) Would the seeds still work?  (2) If they still worked, what would they grow?  (3) Would they still grow date palms, or would they grow something different than they originally would have?

Whether or not these kinds of questions were actually asked, the results were evident and noteworthy—so noteworthy that worldwide news is being made about these seeds and the resulting saplings.  Isn’t God’s creation amazing!  As a believer, you know exactly what would happen in this situation, but it is still refreshing to see God’s procreative power at work.  You know from the very first chapter of the Bible that a “seed” would yield “according to its kind” (Gen. 1:11).  What would come from a date palm seed?  Date palms!  You would never expect to get anything different.  And you never would get anything different.  Date palm seeds (no matter how old) produce date palms!

The spiritual application of this is astounding and very compelling!  When Jesus explained the parable of the soils, He told His followers, “The seed is the Word of God” (Luke 8:11).  The sower went out to sow.  What he was sowing into the hearts of the people was “the Word of God.”  Now, whatever the seed produced 2,000 years ago (i.e., whatever the Word of God produced 2,000 years ago) is what the same seed (without any contamination) will produce today!

Read the book of Acts and you find the Word of God being sown everywhere the disciples went, and they were sowing the same seed wherever they went.  The seed revealed that Jesus died, was buried and was raised again (1 Cor. 15:3-4), and in response, man must hear, believe, repent, confess and be baptized (Acts 2:37-41).  When the seed was planted and watered, the result (when accepted and acted upon) was a New Testament Christian (Matt. 28:19-20+Acts 11:26).  Nothing more, nothing less.  Those New Testament Christians were all “added” by the Lord to His “church” (Acts 2:41, 47), which was purchased by Christ (Acts 20:28) and established in Acts 2.  They were all added to the “one church” (Eph. 4:4), for there was no other church in existence other than Christ’s church (having grown from His seed)!

So, what happens when that same seed is sown 2,000 years later?  It will produce (and only produce) the same thing!