The Secrets of The Kingdom

“Then the disciples came and said to him, ‘Why do you speak to them in parables?’ And he answered them, ‘To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says:

“‘”You will indeed hear but never understand,

    and you will indeed see but never perceive.”

For this people's heart has grown dull,

    and with their ears they can barely hear,

    and their eyes they have closed,

lest they should see with their eyes

    and hear with their ears

and understand with their heart

    and turn, and I would heal them.’” (Matthew 13:10-15 ESV)

Jesus here was speaking to his disciples, and probably not just to the twelve, but to all his true followers who were present with him at that time. For he had just delivered to them The Parable of the Sower (see Matthew 13:1-23). But Jesus often spoke in parables as his way of teaching biblical truths. But parables require spiritual discernment, and those outside of faith in Jesus Christ, and/or who are not presently walking as they ought in him, cannot be discerning of these truths if they are not following the Lord in obedience.

And I will say here that sometimes the Lord speaks to me in parables, in the form of dreams or visions or real life illustrations, in order to point me in a particular direction that he wants me to go with a specific passage of Scripture. And these parables do require that I seek the face of the Lord, and that I inquire of him, first of all if the parable is from him, and then, if it is, that he would give me understanding and insight into its meaning. And then it has to align with the word of God and not be contrary to the Word.

And he does this with me for the same reason he spoke in parables when he walked on this earth, because it is to us who are following him with our lives who he gives the secrets of the kingdom of heaven. But this isn’t something that is secret in the sense that it is some new revelation that is to be added on to the Scriptures. No! It us just an illustration to help us to understand the specific message the Lord wants us to have through what is already written, although for the disciples of Jesus’ time, it wasn’t already written.

But the question was regarding why the Lord spoke to the people in parables who were not his disciples. But he was teaching his disciples in the process, for they were the ones who sought him out as to their meaning so that he could teach them. And his answer to them was because, although the people could see, they chose not to see, and although they could hear, they chose not to hear, nor did they understand, because they did not seek the Lord for understanding, nor were they open to hear what he had to teach them. 

And the reason for that is because their hearts had grown dull and so their ears could barely hear, and their eyes were closed to the truth so that they would not see, because they did not want to hear or to see. And that is where many people are today, and not just those who make no profession of faith in Jesus Christ, but sadly many who profess to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. They don’t want to hear the truth of the gospel. They don’t want messages about repentance and forsaking sin and obedience to God.

They want feel good messages which coddle them in their sins and which tell them what their itching ears want to hear. They want to hear that they can make a once in a lifetime decision to believe in Jesus, and now all their sins are forgiven (past, present, and future), and so now heaven is guaranteed them when they die, and it can’t be taken away from them, but regardless of how they live. And so they put their hands over their eyes and their ears so that they do not hear and so that they do not see the truth of the gospel.

And what do the Scriptures say in this matter? 

“Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” (1 Corinthians 2:12-14 ESV)

So, when we read the Scriptures we should be hearing the voice of the Spirit speaking his truths to our hearts, not audibly necessarily, but in our spirits. And he should be teaching us the lessons that he wants us to learn from the Scriptures that he wants applied to our hearts today. And so sometimes he uses dreams and visions and real life situations in our lives as parables in order to illustrate for us the particular practical lesson he wants us specifically to get from the passage as applied to our world and the church and our individual lives today. For we should be led by the Holy Spirit.

And the natural person (the natural mind and way of thinking) is not going to pick up on those things that must be spiritually discerned, but which are biblical truths just being applied to our real life situations in the current world we live in today. But not all dreams and visions are from God, so we must test them all to make certain they are from God and they align with his word and that they teach what the Scriptures teach and that they are not anti-biblical but that they are consistent with what the Scriptures teach.

And this doesn’t necessarily have to do anything with dreams and visions, but I am just sharing that I believe the Lord still speaks in parables to us who are discerning and who will inquire of him because he wants to relate his word to us to what our circumstances are today. And he may still speak in parables to those whose eyes and ears are closed, and so they refuse to seek the Lord for understanding, and so they refuse to hear what the Lord wants to say to them specifically about their lives.

But what is the bottom line here? We need to be people of God who are listening to the Spirit’s voice speaking the truths of God’s word to our hearts in very practical ways which can be applied to our world, church, and individual lives today. And then we must forsake our sins, die to sin daily, and follow our Lord in obedience wherever he leads us, wherever he wants us to go. And then we must follow him in obedience to what he is calling us all individually to do, as his servants and messengers, and not tune him out.

The Spirit Calling

An Original Work / November 12, 2019

Hear the Spirit calling.

He’ll keep you from falling.

Tenderly He’s calling,

“Come and follow Him.”

Walk with Jesus daily.

Don’t give in to lazy.

Folks may call you crazy.

Fellowship with Him.

Follow where He leads you.

Eat what Jesus feeds you.

His love will renew you

If you follow Him.

Do what Jesus tells you.

Don’t let your faith fail you.

His love will avail you

If you walk with Him.

Jesus, Lord and Savior,

Reigneth now forever.

He gave us His favor

So we’d live with Him.

Turning now from our sin,

Holy Spirit live-in.

Holiness we walk in,

Purified by Him.

https://vimeo.com/373006449