Why Jesus spoke in
Parables
Jesus came to earth not only to save lost humanity
but to also draw people into His Kingdom. Those who reject Jesus and His words
like the Pharisees, Sadducees, many Jews and Gentiles cannot understand the
mysteries of His Kingdom and are therefore spiritually blind and deaf. Jesus
called them “blind leaders of the blind.” Matthew 15:14
Jesus used the 7
parables of Matthew 13 to speak truth about His
Kingdom, its growth
and the separation
at the end
of the age.
These seven parables have a paralleled theme. The word parable comes from the
word "parabole,"
which means to "cast alongside." Jesus cast His kingdom truth alongside an earthly
event. Within His parables is Divine truth. Jesus used the things of
the earth (natural)
to reveal spiritual truth. Why? Jesus
is Divine Truth, and because all things were
created through Him, He understands all things.
The Bible says
that "the earth is full of God's glory." Therefore, the whole earth has
a divine message from Him.
“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." Jesus is showing these religious
leaders that He and they are fulfilling Isaiah 6:10.
Jesus ‘words show the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy and the will of God as
well as the rebellion of unbelief and a lack of spiritual knowledge by the
multitudes.
Often Jesus’ parables are double-edged. They divide the true
believer from the unbeliever. Because the
Pharisees and other unbelievers had
hard and unbelieving
hearts, they could
not see the truth of God’s
Kingdom. The Pharisees were teachers of the law and should have seen through
Jesus’ words and actions that He was the Messiah for whom they had been awaiting. Jesus kept quoting the very Older
Testament scriptures He was fulfilling in their seeing and hearing. Because of
their unbelief of Jesus, they did not see that the Kingdom of God had come.
They expected an earthly Messiah (king) who would defeat their earthly
enemies and set up his kingdom in earthly Israel. Jesus’ kingdom is eternal and spiritual. During His millennial
reign, Jesus will establish an earthly, spiritual kingdom in the land of
Israel, but ultimately His Kingdom will be an eternal heavenly Kingdom. The
earthly kingdom and the heavenly Kingdom will become one in Him.
While
on earth, Jesus wants His disciples to know the character of His Kingdom that
they must accept and obey.
Jesus Teaches a Crowd
Jesus begins
by speaking His parables to
the multitudes. Because the
crowd was getting so large, Jesus " got into a boat, sat down, and the
whole crowd was
standing on the
beach." The One who walks on
water is in a boat teaching. The symbolism of Jesus walking on water in the
gospels is that He walks on the water of Divine Truth and He wants His
disciples to also do so if they are to be effective in establishing His Kingdom
on earth as it is in heaven. Jesus is the Divine Teacher; the crowd are the hearers.
There is a marked difference in the hearing of those hearing His words.
Perhaps
it was a fishing boat that Jesus sat in a few feet from shore, since He is the
Divine fisher of men who uses His Divine Word anointed by the Holy Spirit to
draw people to Him. Here Jesus teaches His Word on the earthly water as the Holy Spirit teaches people
today on the water of the Word anointed by the Holy Spirit. Since Jesus is the Anointed Word, all
truth leads to Him.
The truth was veiled to those who
didn’t believe in Jesus. His disciples already believed in and knew Jesus, so
He did not have to reveal Himself to them. He came to not only save but also to
call people into His Kingdom that He will reveal. Jesus had already said that
the “Kingdom of God is at hand.” (see Mark 1:15) It was at hand in
Him and is different from an earthly kingdom.
The parables of Jesus will harden
the hearts of some but enlighten His disciples. This is
the double-edged sword of His Word. The prophet Amos spoke of a time when there
would be a famine of the hearing of the Word of God. “The days are coming,”
declares the Sovereign Lord, “when I will send a famine through the land – not
a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of
the Lord.” Amos 8:11 This was true during the two testaments of the Word.
God was silent for over 400 years! It is also true when Jesus walked the earth.
Many would not hear the truth of His Words.
Jesus tells His disciples
that their “eyes are blessed, because you see; and your ears, because you
hear.” 13:16 after quoting Isaiah 6:9-10 about those who “keep on
listening, but do not perceive; keep on looking, but do not understand.” Jesus went on to say, “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.” 13:17 Many of those under the Law could not
understand the words of Jesus because of their rejection of Jesus who is Divine
Truth. The Older Testament prophets and believers only saw in part, but Jesus
is the fullness of God’s Truth. His disciples are seeing and hearing from Jesus
face-to-face. Those with spiritual eyes
and ears are blessed. Although Christ’s followers have the whole Word of God
and Jesus’ words, we too only see in part, “for now we see in a mirror
dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully
just as I also have been fully known.” 1 Corinthians 13:12 We too will
eventually see Jesus face to face and fully understand everything the Word of
God speaks.
In revealing the Kingdom of
heaven, Jesus begins most of the parables in Matthew 13 with, “the kingdom
of heaven is like…..” This parable on the Sower and the seed was so important that it is recorded in
three gospels: Matthew, Mark and Luke. Luke 8:4-6 reveals that people
from each city were coming to hear Jesus.
(to be continued)
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