Culture of the Kingdom
Today’s Topic: Revelation of Mysteries Part 2: Parables and Revelations
Scripture: Matthew 13:10-17; Isaiah 6:9
Greetings Kingdom Citizens
All revelation has things that have preceded it. Those things that precede the revelation is a type and a shadow. Now once the revelation comes when God brings the new season that draws it forward. Now the thing that was before that was a type and shadow now is manifested to a reality. One of the great examples of this is when Jesus spoke in parables to the multitudes. But, Jesus being the Son of God, why didn’t He just tell them the exact thing He wanted them to know? Why did Jesus speak in parables? How about this? What is a parable? To answer the last question first. A parable is a story that hides the truth from an individual that is not looking for it and guides an individual who is looking for truth to the reality. Now why did Jesus speak in parables? Matthew 13 gives us the answer to this so let’s take our time and examine this.
The disciples in Matthew 13:10 asked Jesus why did He speak to them, the multitudes, in parables? Here is the answer and it is a multi-part answer so let’s go through it.
Matthew 13:11: “Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but unto them it is not given.” Let’s look at this. Jesus tells His disciples and He is making it clear to us that there are mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven. If there are mysteries then there are revelations that are to be given out about the mysteries. So we at least know that there are mysteries, now part 2 of Jesus answer.
Matthew 13:13: “Therefore I speak to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand” Jesus then explains this because He want to make sure the disciples understood why He was doing it. For one it had to be this way for the prophecy to be fulfilled of Isaiah 6:9. Jesus goes on in Matthew 13:15 to speak about the condition of the people’s heart. Matthew 13:15: “For this people’s heart is waxed gross (hardened) and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at anytime they shall see with their eyes and hear with their ears and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.” Now why would the people’s heart be hardened? Well think about, mankind had by this time been without Holy Spirit abiding in them for about 4,000 years. In addition after the fall of man, this began the decline of man. It got so bad that God wanted to wipe mankind off of the face of the earth because His heart had been continuously thinking on evil. Now here we are 2010 A.D. and the decline of man is still continuing. Look at the condition and the thoughts of mankind today. There is corruption at the highest levels of government leading to poverty, theft from the people that put them in office. We have people indiscriminately killing people for no reason and some just based on their ethnicity. But man’s heart has become so hard and needed to be healed. Only the restoration of the Holy Spirit and reconciliation with the Father can heal the hardened heart of man. Since at that time when Jesus was speaking the people did not have the Holy Spirit abiding in them and Jesus knowing their hearts, knowing that they really did not want to know the truth, He spoke to them in parables. Now, Jesus explained the parables to the disciples. Why? Because they whole heartedly wanted to know and this leads me to this very important point:
“Because Holy Spirit is Holy and cannot lie then if you truly do not want to know the truth, then Holy Spirit will not reveal to you the mystery. However, if you truly want to know and you seek God’s face and His heart then at the appointed time, God will show you the truth to the mystery.”
Now I also want to say that even if you are saved and filled with the Holy Spirit if you are not seeking the truth whole-heartedly then Holy Spirit is not going to reveal anything to you. This is why so many people slip into religion because they try to get the truth to satisfy their carnal desires or to correct someone just to prove them wrong and that is not how Holy Spirit operates. Correction is done in love.
In closing, Jesus said blessed are your eyes for they see and your ears for they hear (Matthew 13:16). If you notice in Matthew 13:13,14 you see the word understand. We know from a previous series “Seven Spirits of God”, one of the seven spirits is understanding. Understanding is applying wisdom and knowledge. So you can know something but do not know how to apply it. This is why Holy Spirit’s role in the lives of believer’s is so vital because He is the one who gives us understanding and revelation to the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven. However this revelation only is given to those who have a relationship with Holy Spirit and whole-heartedly seeks the Kingdom and the truth from the Father.
At the Father’s Service,
Elder Calvin Calhoun Jr.
