Isaiah 65:2.Reasons Why The Kingdom of God Remains a Mystery (A Hidden Truth) To Many
1. Truth is only understood when it is perceived through spiritual eyes. (I Cor. 2:14-16) Unless a person has a personal relationship with Jesus Christ they will consider the talk about the kingdom of God as foolishness.
Quote: REBELLION
Reserving for myself the right to make final decision.
2. Christ is the key to understanding the kingdom of God. Only those who have a relationship with Christ through saving faith will begin to understand the mysteries of the kingdom of God. As Paul wrote, “In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” (Col. 2:3) Only those who are willing to study, follow and submit to Christ will be given the insight to know Christ and His kingdom’s phenomenon more fully. Let us understand some of the reasons why Jesus chose to speak in parables about the kingdom of God in Matthew 13:4-58:
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 him who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him 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. With them indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which says:
’you shall indeed hear but never understand,
and you shall indeed see but never perceive.
For this people’s heart has grown dull,
and their ears are heavy of hearing,
and their eyes they have closed,
lest they should perceive with their eyes,
and hear with their ears,
and understand with their heart,
and turn for me to heal them.’
But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. Truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it." {Matt 13:10-17 RSV}
A. Here we find a key principle that helps us understand how God acts through the events of human history. This is precisely what Jesus is teaching us through these parables. A person cannot understand what is happening in current events nor in the whole scope of history unless you understand this principle. It is not only the principle by which God judges nations and determines the course of international events, but it is the principle by which he governs what happens to individuals as well.
B. The disciples asked why Jesus spoke in parables because they were puzzled, perplexed and curious to know the secrets of their Master’s teaching. Only when people are genuinely willing to learn from the Lord are they ready to receive what God wants to teach them.
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." {Matt 13:10-11 RSV}
C. Jesus gladly shared the insights into the kingdom as He said, “"Well, to you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given." The word translated secrets means, literally, "mysteries." In Scripture a mystery is a truth, which cannot be known by the normal exercise of human wisdom and knowledge. It is a truth about life, which, if we are to know it, God must tell us about it, because it could never be discovered by the exercise of human intelligence. That is why these secrets, these mysteries, about the kingdom of heaven, and therefore about life, will never be found in science or literature or history or any other discipline of human knowledge or investigation. They are simply not there. And yet they are essential to the understanding of life. They must be disclosed to us by God.
D. We must remember that human wisdom is never adequate to understand God’s will regarding our involvement in the kingdom of God. Without faith it is impossible to please God and to know His will for our lives.. We can discover many things about life and, by our technology, we can invent a lot of useful implements and gadgets but we will never, never satisfy human life on those terms. We must know more; and only God can tell us. That is why these mysteries are of great importance.
D. Let us never underestimate the power of the gospel to open the minds of people to the mysteries of the kingdom of God. The gospel itself is one of these mysteries. Its great secret, Paul says, is "Christ in you, the hope of glory," {Col 1:27}. And Paul announced in several of his letters that it was given to the apostles to unfold these great mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. But the unfolding began with Jesus.
E. We should be grateful that we have been given the privilege to have the mysteries of the kingdom of God disclosed to us as the disciples were. Jesus said to them, "To you it has been given to know, but not to them" That made them feel like a special "in" group. They felt like the privileged few and that is a great feeling, is it not? We all like that wonderful feeling when somebody gathers us in close and says, "Come here, I want to tell you something. Don’t tell anyone else. It is for you to know, and not for them." What a delicious morsel to chew on that is! We are instantly all ears.
F. The Lord does not want us to become proud and develop a superiority complex toward others who are yet to have the privilege of understanding the mysteries of the kingdom of God. Imagine the pride of the disciples inflating themselves as the Lord says, "To you it has been given, but not to them." But our Lord pricks that balloon of pride instantly. He goes on to tell them the basis upon which they were chosen and not someone else. It is simply this:
"For to him who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away." {Matt 13:12 RSV}
G. Let us remember that unless we use what we have we will eventually lose our understanding of God’s will and truth. It is a basic, fundamental law of life. That is the great principle upon which God operates to govern human lives and human history. "To him who has will more be given ... but from him who has not, even what he has [or, as Luke says, ’even what he thinks he has’] will be taken away." Now, what does that mean? People who do not use their muscles find that they soon weaken and atrophy, and that what you have is taken away. All you need do to render your arm paralyzed is simply to tie it up and not use it for a few months. Soon you will find you have lost the ability to use it. Life is built this way. Truth must be acted upon in order to be retained.
H. If people reject the truth or fail to use it then the truth will be lost. God is constantly confronting men with truth about everything, at every level of life. Man is so constructed that he is made to act upon truth. But if he doesn’t he loses the truth which has already been given to him. That is a very vital and important principle in understanding human life. That is the basis upon which God determines advance or regression either in individuals or in nations.
I. Jesus calls those who are He sees have their hearts ready to receive and submit to His truth about the kingdom of God. When the Lord saw them -- simple fishermen, tax collectors, etc. -- he saw in the heart of each one a willingness to act on truth. When they saw the truth, and knew it to be truth, they acted on it. The proof of that is the way they responded when he called them. The moment he said to them, "Come, follow me," they rose, and followed him. They acted on truth.
He had perceived that in them. That is why to them it was given to know the secrets while to others it was hidden. Their willingness to act on the truth they knew qualified them for more truth. In many people the degree of obedience is discouragingly slight.
Application : Let us be willing to act on truth, not procrastinate, or we will risk loosing it. The secret to growth is to grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Pet. 3:18)
J. To the degree we participate in the ministry of the kingdom of God will be directly proportional to how much we will experience the blessing of God. Try it, and you will see immediately that to those who have more will be given, and they shall have in abundance.
Ray Steadman gives a very good illustration of the importance of obeying the truth of the kingdom of God when he writes:
But the contrasting idea is also true. If you don’t obey truth, it is taken away from you. This great principle is visible in international affairs:
1. Why, for instance, has Great Britain lost its empire and been reduced to a second rate power in our day after being the leading nation of the world for many decades? The answer is that the English people knew truth, which they failed to act on. They did not incorporate into their economic and national life the truth that they admitted widely as a people. They were false to principles they knew to be true, and, as a result, their scepter of power has been removed and they have sunk into relative obscurity. There is no other explanation for it. You can talk about economics, about politics, and other such things, but those are merely the processes by which this principle is worked out.
2. Why did the Roman Empire fall before the barbarian hordes after it had been queen of the world for centuries? The answer is that, when its paganism was confronted with the truth of the cross of Christ, it rejected that truth and fought back with fire and sword and wild beasts and cruel tortures. And the empire crumbled from within. All the wisdom of the Senate and all the experience garnered in centuries of world dominion was unable to hold that empire together.
3. Why are the Russian people now deprived of the right to worship, and of freedom of speech and of the press, and forbidden to travel abroad or even to read of other cultures? Because, when the truth of the gospel was widespread in Russia, as once it was, it was canonized and ritualized and evacuated of its content until it became a hollow shell of pretense and religious hypocrisy. When that happened the nation was rendered ripe for revolution.
4. What do you think is happening in the United States today? This nation is facing exactly that same possibility. The open rejection of the truth about Jesus Christ on the part of the American people, truth which they have known and seen, and the hollow pretense of obeying it when they really do not believe it, is dimming the light in this land and removing the barriers to savagery and violence -- and the barbarians are at the doors again. And evangelicals can be as guilty as anyone else in this respect.
This is the great principle upon which God determines history. It is illustrated in Israel, as Jesus goes on to show. He says,
"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." {Matt 13:13 RSV}
And then he quotes Isaiah, saying that 725 years previously Isaiah had predicted that this would be the case, that when this people heard and saw the truth they would not understand it nor receive it:
"With them indeed is fulfilled the prophesy of Isaiah which says:
’You shall indeed hear but never understand,
and you shall indeed see but never perceive.’" {Matt 13:14 RSV}
Jesus taught that people who would not receive truth will eventually find that it will be taken away from them. Unless we act on what we know our understanding will grow dim. Only a few people eventually did much with the teaching of Jesus while he was on the earth. Yet, Jesus was not discouraged because He again quoted from Isaiah about people who will not understand.
"’For this people’s heart has grown dull,
and their ears are heavy of hearing,
and their eyes they have closed,’" {Matt 13:15a RSV}
We can thank God that He did not close their eyes and ears or dull their hearts. The people were responsibility for shutting their eyes, ears and hearts to the truth from God. Again Jesus quotes from Isaiah:
"’lest they should perceive with their eyes,
and hear with their ears,
and understand with their heart,
and turn for me to heal them.’" {Matt 13:15b RSV}
Many people understand the essence of the gospel and they know that God can work miracles in their lives and bring great deliverance to nations. However, more than 90% of the world, in their stubborn refusals, reject the King and His kingdom in their lives. They essentially do not want what God wants to give the because they do not want to be healed on His terms. In the perversity of their minds they refused to accept the medicine Christ is offering them. Instead, they continue to choose their own wickedness, folly and sinful self-destructive pleasures, all under the name of human choice and tolerance of individual differences. Their pride disallows them from humbling themselves under the mighty hand of God so that He could exalt them in the proper time and way. .
Jesus tells about a terrible judgment that He brings upon all those who reject the truth. He said, "light has come into the world and men love darkness rather than light," {John 3:19 RSV}. That is the condemnation.
Jesus knew that only those who are ready to act upon the truth will be able to understand it. This in a nutshell is the great lesson of the parables. Only those who plan to use it will keep it.
To Christians who are ready to act on truth Jesus says, "How happy you are, how privileged you are."
"Blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear." {Matt 13:16 RSV}
"Truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it." {Matt 13:17 RSV}
Jesus indicates that because we listen and obey we are privileged to be able to see what men for centuries have longed to understand and experience first hand.."
K. Thank God that He sets before us the unfolding of the secrets of life. If we don’t hear it, if we don’t grasp it, if we don’t heed it, we have only ourselves to blame. God has given to us not only the life that comes from Jesus Christ, but also the promise that he will unfold to us all the understanding we need to meet any difficult problem or circumstance of life and to see it as God sees it -- if we but give ourselves to the study and understanding of his Word. As Paul says, "In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge," {cf, Col 2:2-3}.
Ray Steadman continues with his awesome insights when he writes:
“As you look around at life today it is very obvious that something is terribly lacking in the understanding of men. We have vast technological ability and can construct all kinds of useful machines, and we can improve the physical standard of our lives, but something is still terribly lacking. We do not know how to enable people to live in harmony with one another. We do not know how to remove the frictions, the hostilities, and the guilt of man. We do not know how to heal his hurt. And yet those secrets are given to us -- but only to those prepared to act upon them. That is the key.
That is why it is so terribly important that when God teaches you something, you do not delay acting on it. Do not just put it up on your wall and say, "I learned a great truth today. It blessed my heart. There it is: You can read it for yourself." -- No! Act on it!
This means that when you read in the Scriptures that the Lord says to Christians, "Practice hospitality" {Rom 12:13} without grudging, you should go home, open your door, and invite somebody in, and use your home without grudging, without partiality, for the benefit of those who are in need. This means that when the Lord says, "Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you" {cf, Eph 4:32}, if you have a grudge in your heart against somebody and you have been holding it against them, and you are resentful and have been trying to hurt them, or you have excluded them or turned your back on them, then go and deal with that situation, heal that relationship. Act upon the truth, or you are committing yourself to blindness and to finding that the truth which would have delivered you will be taken away so that all you will have left is but the hollow shell of words, with no content whatever.”
L. Let us pray that we will be willing to act upon what we know to do is right today. Ask the Lord to save you from the folly of sitting back in scornful skepticism, waiting to have everything unveiled to us before we will act on it. God help us to act upon those bits and pieces of truth which come to us, Lord, and which we know are true. For then according to your promise: "To him who has will more be given, and he will have abundance." And help us to take seriously this warning: "But from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away." We ask it in your name, Amen.
Credit given to the Title: The Mystery of History
Series: Behind the Scenes of History
Scripture: Matt 13:1-17
1971 Ray Steadman - PBC
3. God is the only one who can disclose what is hidden in his redemptive plan of history throughout the ages. People who lack wisdom need to ask God to give them wisdom; understanding and guidance in applying the principles of His kingdom and righteousness in order to fully experience His blessings.
4. God’s kingdom is in one sense yet to come when everyone and every human state will be displaced by the sovereign reign of Jesus Christ on the earth. James tells us that we need to be doers of His word and not merely hearers who tend to deceive themselves. (James 1:22) People are self-deluded who think they are doing good, but are failing to allow the life of Christ to manifest itself through us through His reign, His kingdom and His righteousness. The kingdom of God cannot be run like a business, but is an overflow of the life of Christ from our lives. Jesus said, “He who believes in me as the scripture says, from his inner most being will flow rivers of living waters.” (John 7:38) The ministry of the kingdom of God is a fruit of abiding in Christ that cannot be manufactured with human effort, cunning or orchestration.
5. The new revelation is that the kingdom of God has come and is now at work among men but in an unexpected way. Rational people have a hard time understanding the kingdom of God because it does not align with their logical ways of thinking. His thoughts and ways are higher than our ways. (Isa 55)
6. The kingdom of God has yet to abolish human rule or sin from the earth. As a result many people discount the effectiveness of the kingdom of God because they do not see its dominating influence, as it will have during the millennial reign of Christ.
7. The kingdom of God is quietly, unobtrusively; secretly working among people and often is not recognized by the crowds. Just because the kingdom of God is not getting headlines does not mean that it is not accomplishing all that God intends. We live in an age of polls that make many people think that unless it something is on the news it is not really that significant.
8. The kingdom of God offers in the spiritual realm the blessings of God’s rule, delivering us from the power of Satan and sin and the self-destructive tendencies of our human nature. Those who are not actively involved with the ministry of Christ’s kingdom not only miss out on God’s blessings, but are also being negatively influenced by Satan and the power of sin and the pressures of the world with its distortions.
9. The kingdom of God is an offer, a gift that may be accepted or rejected. Unless people continually receive the gift of God’s kingdom and reign in their lives He will not force His influence upon anyone.
10. Jesus went about preaching the kingdom of God, healing every disease and sickness and saying, "Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand." Without repentance the kingdom of God will not be understood nor will we grow in it qualitatively or in quantity
11. The kingdom of God defeated the devil as he has no hold over those who are submitted to the rule, authority and protection of their King. Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil.
12. The kingdom of God comes to people as His disciples went throughout the villages with His message of liberation, truth and redemption. Nearly 2.7 billion people are yet to hear a clear presentation of the gospel of the kingdom around the world.
13. The kingdom of God is to be preached to the whole world and then the end will come. (Matt 24:14) Most people will hear about the message of the gospel through a ministry of the kingdom of God with an evangelist, a church or a friend or family member.
14. The kingdom of God comes like seed sown that gradually but through the multiplication of the mustard seed faith of believers eventually saturates the whole community. The knowledge of the kingdom of God comes gradually over time for those who are consistently involved with like-minded kingdom growth oriented people.
15. The kingdom of God is understood through the studying, teaching and applying of the parables in Matthew 13. Most of these parables indicate an increasing level of maturity and fruitfulness for those who are growing in their involvement of planting, nurturing and harvesting people for the kingdom of God. Those who are not involved with serving people will have a hard time exploring the mysteries of the kingdom of God in reality.
16. The kingdom of God is often rejected, neglected or minimized by hardhearted people, distracted people or those who are too in love with the worries, riches and pleasures of this life. (Mark 4:1-20)
17. The kingdom of God brings the miracle of divine life among only people who are searching, seeking and asking for it in their hearts, minds and lives. Most people are lazy, indifferent or set in their own ways of thinking and so misses out on the riches of the kingdom of God.
18. The kingdom of God is best understood when the king is able to completely rule in all areas of our life and in the lives of those around us. People who are not totally committed to denying themselves, taking up their cross and following Christ will never understand the kingdom of God.
19. The kingdom of God is coming in its fullness on the earth when Christ will unleash the full force of his judgment, power and glory upon everyone on the earth in a fearful and wonderful way for His thousand-year reign. Eschatological problems have a deleterious influence upon people who are yet to understand God’s plan for the kingdom of God on earth.
20. The kingdom of God is best understood by those who have been given much and are reproducing the seed of the kingdom of God 30, 60 and 100 fold. Those who refuse to obey the king in helping to seek first the kingdom of God will fail to mature in their ability to rise to higher levels of maturity in Christ. (Eph. 4:15)
21. The kingdom of God has its work done through the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit working with the power of the word of God. Unless we are living and growing under the power and the grace of God we will not be able to comprehend the kingdom of God’s fullness.
22. The kingdom of God is given through the preaching of the gospel of the kingdom. The death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and its significance are often misunderstood in terms of its present day relevance.
23. The message of the gospel of the Kingdom is the Good News about the kingdom of God. We can be hopeful, positive and buoyant as we share some good news in a world filled with depressing events.
24. The kingdom of God is all about God’s glory, Christ victory and the Spirit’s enabling power. Unless we understand the Trinity we are going to struggle appreciating fully the kingdom of God.
25. The kingdom of God is a far more compelling reason to help people engage in missions than mere statistics about the number of lost in the world. The kingdom of God brings in the element of eternity, which is often understood among many.
26. Many people fail to appreciate that God’s glory working through the good news of the kingdom is the major theme of the Bible. The kingdom of God was the subject of Christ’s first and last message. (Mark 1:14; Luke 4:18; Acts 1:1-8) Jesus said the kingdom of God was the goal, the intention and the purpose of His teaching. (Luke 8:10)
27. Jesus taught us to pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matt 6:9-13) Many of us still need to pray and obey before we can comprehend the fullness of the kingdom of God in our lives and ministries.
