In the parable of the sower, Jesus represented one class of hearers by the seed that @fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth; and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth; And when the sun was up they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away." (Matthew 13:5-6)
Every farmer or gardener can appreciate this statement, and so can well understand the application that Jesus made. He said: "He that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that hears the word, and anon with joy receives it; Yet he has not root in himself, but endures for awhile; for when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, by and by he is offended." (Matthew 13:20-21)
Note the expression, "yet he has not root in himself." The root of the plant that has life, is in it. Both root and stalk are wrapped up in one seed. So the man who lives righteously, and who continues, must have a root in himself.
What is the root? Let the Scripture answer. Speaking of Christ, the Arm of the Lord, which brings salvation, the prophet said: "He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground." (Isaiah 53:2)
Christ himself says: "I am the root and the offspring of David." (Revelation 22:18)
So the Apostle Paul, speaking to those who have been grafted into the olive tree, partaking of the root and fatness of the olive tree, said, "you bear not the root, but the root you." (Romans 11:18)
Jesus is the root, and though the root bears the plant, the strength of the root is in the plant itself. Christ, the root, dwells in His people, and so completely does He identify himself with them, that He cannot be distinguished from them, but that which He does in them is their own act. It is as though they bore the root.
Through the word of truth received and hidden in the heart, we may have root in ourselves, so that no amount of drought can cause us to wither. "Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age, they shall be fat and flourishing." (Psalm 92:13-14) "And the Lord shall guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and make fat your bones: and you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not." (Isaiah 58:11)--Present Truth, March 28, 1901--Timeline: IV-24 (Sermon by the Sea)--Matthew 13:5-6, 20-21.