Holy Hormones Bible Study: Teaching — not Entertainment
THE MYSTERIOUS PARABLES EXPLAINED TO THE PERPLEXED #1 — Introduction
Come and see why a Loving God deliberately makes Himself incomprehensible
This hard teaching is enough to make me reject the Christian God
Matthew 13:10–14 || And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” 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.”
But what is the correct interpretation of the verse?
Everyone brings their own baggage to the table. There are two fundamental mindsets with which to read this offensive text.
“And I think it’s a time in our culture where people love to pretend they’re offended.” Simpsons’ creator Matt Groening responding to the racism row surrounding fan favourite Apu.
(a) Look at the whole council of God so you know that the Character of God is good, and interpret what is written through that lens; or
(b) Read this little snippet and decide that God is bad.
Based on the whole council of God I utterly reject the notion that God is bad. (If you disagree with that stance, you’d better move on because you will waste too much emotional energy fuming over what a bad person I am. You can try cancelling me but my reputation was nailed to the Cross. What can you do to me?
The whole council of God
(Actually only part of it — but enough)
• It is written in Exodus 33:19 || Then He said, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” Our Adversary is a legalist (The Accuser of the Brethren) but , with this declaration, Yehovah gives Himself the legal right to show mercy.
• This concept is affirmed in James 2:13(b) || Mercy triumphs over judgement.
• And the eye-for-an-eye Proclamation was the foundation of the later Roman lex talionis. That is, the punishment must fit the crime.
So?
There was a point in Christ’s Ministry to the Sons of Jacob when it became unmistakable that they had set their heart on rejecting the Promised Messiah. If they continued to harden their hearts, as did Pharaoh, they would keep digging the hole to their own destruction.
But Yehovah had made a Promise to David about there being a Throne of David in future. Obviously there would be no throne if Israel was bent on its own destruction. By partially blinding Israel at the time, God gave Himself the legal right to limit their culpability to Manslaughter — not premeditated Murder which was a Capital Crime. You may be interested in this post on the same topic.
The sad part
Daniel received a Seventy Week Prophecy in Daniel 9. Part of this included a hiatus after 69 weeks.
|If you have ever read Matthew 24:15 you are commanded to understand the Prophecy in Daniel.|
In Babylon Daniel was the Senior Israelite. He was of the sons of Judah, so not a Priest. Jesus declares him a Prophet (Matthew 24:15), even though Judaism today does not. [I go with Jesus. You decide for yourself.] It is made clear in his Book that he was up to date with the other Prophets. I can’t remember it being made crystal clear but it would not be surprising if the Prophecy given to him passed down through the Religious Elite. Even if it was done accidentally by the Scribes. He was also made chief of the Chaldean Magi.
In the Gospels it is made clear that the Magi had been looking for a sign of the Promised Messiah, the rough timing of which had been given several hundred years earlier. Like the Men of Issachar, these Pagan Gentiles understood the Times. But here’s the sad bit. The Jews didn’t.
Even though the chief priests and scribes knew where to direct the Magi from Babylon to find Him at Bethlehem (Matthew 2:5–6). They had let the chance slip by.
Another sad bit
There are two dangerous places for Baby Christians to be in my part of town.
- Most (and the number increasing) Bible Colleges and Seminaries. These are Hell-bent (pun intended) on gutting the Divine by dumbing down the Bible, so that it can be analysed statistically with Higher Textual Criticism. The Holy Bible was once something special but is becoming just one of many books written by mere mortals. It appears that graduation must wait for the Baby Christian to have the Sense of Wonder of God knocked out — Child Abuse on the Spiritual Level.
• With older (small ‘c’) christians who have been around. They will gleefully, and knowingly, tell the Baby Christian not to get too carried away and take it too seriously. (My experience.)
Is it any wonder that the Christian Church is atrophying into a slow, lingering death. But Jesus has promised to build His (big ‘C’) Church. And He makes it clear that He is eager to come inside to the lukewarm whenever they open the door from the inside (because there’s no door handle on the outside.)
MY LOGIC TELLS ME THAT GOD’S ATTITUDE WITH THE PARABLES IS ONE OF MERCY NOT MALEVOLENCE. But your logic may be better than mine.
The question is, “Will we let the chance slip by?”
The forgoing evidence has not been presented to convince any reader but to allow a personal decision to be made. There is much more to know about this subject. Perhaps you’ll pay another visit, sometime.
All Glory to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
(We all have a plank in our eye. It’s bigger than we think.)
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