|
Author
|
Topic: The Mysteries Of The Kingdom Of Heaven
|
Bloodbought
Advanced Member
Member # 4365
|
posted
quote:
We cause our own blindness, demanding that God fit our expectations, that He speak on our terms and fit our preoccupations. Or maybe we just aren't looking, and have our focus on this world with its money, sex or power.
God forbid.
Posts: 822 | From: Ireland | Registered: Feb 2005
| IP: Logged | 
|
|
Carol Swenson
Admin
Member # 6929
|
posted
Matthew 13
Jesus Teaches in Parables
1 That day Jesus went out of the house and was sitting by the sea. 2 And large crowds gathered to Him, so He got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd was standing on the beach. 3 And He spoke many things to them in parables, saying, "Behold, the sower went out to sow ; 4 and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up. 5 "Others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil ; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil. 6 "But when the sun had risen, they were scorched ; and because they had no root, they withered away. 7 "Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out. 8 "And others fell on the good soil and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. 9 "He who has ears, let him hear."
An Explanation
10 And the disciples came and said to Him, "Why do You speak to them in parables ?" 11 Jesus answered them, "To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. 12 "For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance ; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. 13 "Therefore I speak to them in parables ; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 14 "In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says, 'YOU WILL KEEP ON HEARING, BUT WILL NOT UNDERSTAND ; YOU WILL KEEP ON SEEING, BUT WILL NOT PERCEIVE ; 15 FOR THE HEART OF THIS PEOPLE HAS BECOME DULL, WITH THEIR EARS THEY SCARCELY HEAR, AND THEY HAVE CLOSED THEIR EYES, OTHERWISE THEY WOULD SEE WITH THEIR EYES, HEAR WITH THEIR EARS, AND UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR HEART AND RETURN, AND I WOULD HEAL THEM.' 16 "But blessed are your eyes, because they see ; and your ears, because they hear. 17 "For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.
The Sower Explained
18 "Hear then the parable of the sower. 19 "When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road. 20 "The one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy ; 21 yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away. 22 "And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. 23 "And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty."
Tares among Wheat
24 Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 "But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away. 26 "But when the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also. 27 "The slaves of the landowner came and said to him, 'Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field ? How then does it have tares ?' 28 "And he said to them, 'An enemy has done this !' The slaves said to him, 'Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?' 29 "But he said, 'No ; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them. 30 'Allow both to grow together until the harvest ; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, "First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn."'
The Mustard Seed
31 He presented another parable to them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field ; 32 and this is smaller than all other seeds, but when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that THE BIRDS OF THE AIR come and NEST IN ITS BRANCHES."
The Leaven
33 He spoke another parable to them, "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three pecks of flour until it was all leavened." 34 All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables, and He did not speak to them without a parable. 35 This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet : "I WILL OPEN MY MOUTH IN PARABLES ; I WILL UTTER THINGS HIDDEN SINCE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD."
The Tares Explained
36 Then He left the crowds and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him and said, "Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field." 37 And He said, "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, 38 and the field is the world ; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom ; and the tares are the sons of the evil one; 39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age ; and the reapers are angels. 40 "So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. 41 "The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, 42 and will throw them into the furnace of fire ; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 "Then THE RIGHTEOUS WILL SHINE FORTH AS THE SUN in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.
Hidden Treasure
44 "The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
A Costly Pearl
45 "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, 46 and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.
A Dragnet
47 "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea, and gathering fish of every kind ; 48 and when it was filled, they drew it up on the beach ; and they sat down and gathered the good fish into containers, but the bad they threw away. 49 "So it will be at the end of the age ; the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous, 50 and will throw them into the furnace of fire ; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 51 "Have you understood all these things ?" They said to Him, "Yes." 52 And Jesus said to them, "Therefore every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a head of a household, who brings out of his treasure things new and old."
Posts: 6787 | From: Colorado | Registered: Dec 2007
| IP: Logged |
|
|
Carol Swenson
Admin
Member # 6929
|
posted
The Mysteries Of The Kingdom Of Heaven
(Matthew 13:11-17 NKJV)
He answered and said to them, "Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. "For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. "Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. "And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: 'Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, And seeing you will see and not perceive; For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.' "But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; "for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.
Does this mean that God destines some people to perpetual spiritual obscurity? Not really. Rather we are all blinded by our sin, but God opens the eyes of a few. Understanding spiritual things is His gift, and His to bestow. We cause our own blindness, demanding that God fit our expectations, that He speak on our terms and fit our preoccupations. Or maybe we just aren't looking, and have our focus on this world with its money, sex or power.
We are not talking here about the ability to see demons and angels or have dreams and visions. Many occult practitioners understand those things but are far from Christ. This is a deeper work - the ability to grasp the structural categories of the Kingdom and how it works, the ability to be in tune with the mind of God. These are not magical mysteries, rather they are heavenly truths that are so unusual that few can truly grasp them. One of the Greek words that describes the human mind is phronema - the structure and framework of thought, the world-view. When Paul says "but we have the mind of Christ" this is the word he uses.
Christians have a mental framework that God's truths can fit into. Their mind is the right way up and its categories are suited to scriptural truth. It’s like a child's peg-board with big plastic squares and triangles, circles and hexagons. Think of truth perhaps as a square, love as a circle, justice as a triangle and so on. At the fall the peg-board is twisted and broken and the squares and circles no longer fit in, we just don't understand love and justice and mercy. With redemption and the renewal of the mind the pegboard is straightened up so the pieces can now be pushed into place and spiritual truth is easily absorbed. The Bible which was once confusing is now a delight.
The mysteries are only really grasped when the human mind is under the influence of that great interpreter of mysteries the Holy Spirit , the same Holy Spirit that inspired the prophets and wrote the Scriptures and hovered over the waters at creation. It is His job to "teach us all things" (1 John 2:20-27), instruct us about Christ (John 14:26) and reveal to us the unimaginable glories that God has prepared for those who love Him (1 Corinthians 2:9-16). Without the Holy Spirit spiritual truths just seem as "foolishness" to the natural man (1 Corinthians 2:13, 14).
To people who love God and melt under the influence of the Holy Spirit, more and more is revealed. They are "teachable", so they are taught. But the proud, obstinate, unbelieving and hard of heart who resist the Holy Spirit as Stephens' persecutors did (Acts 7:51) just go deeper into their darkness. This seeing with the heart, this grasping of spiritual things was apparently at a low ebb in Jesus' day. "For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed." So low had they gone that Jesus simply did not bother to teach many of them and seems to have avoided some major wealthy Galilean cities like Herodias and Sepphoris to concentrate on the receptive poor and to preach and teach in the countryside where people had to go out to see Him. Jesus told intriguing stories so that those who the Holy Spirit was working in would ask for more and those who were hard of heart would just walk away. The parables and the mysteries of the kingdom acted as a filter, sorting out the truth seekers from the sign seekers.
But the parables were more than just tough spiritual puzzles for disciples - like Zen koans, that are simply there to expand the mind but are devoid of any real content. The parables were also truth. The parables were precious and glorious and still are. "But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it." The parables change our natural encultured modes of thought as we find out about the first being last, serving to lead and how hard it is for a rich man to enter the Kingdom. They point us to an internal religion of the heart and of humble repentance before a gracious God and the parables abolish external rituals and respectabilities. They leave no room for human pride and in doing so they invert our thinking and flip it around so it becomes "right side up". Now ask God the Holy Spirit to show you the "mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven".
http://www.globalchristians.org/eternity/eternity119.htm
Posts: 6787 | From: Colorado | Registered: Dec 2007
| IP: Logged |
|
|
|
Printer-friendly view of this topic
