"Parables": "Why Jesus spoke in "parables".
Mark 4:10-12
When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables.He told them, "The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables so that,"'they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!'" (NIV)
Jesus spoke in parables because he wanted to reveal the mysteries of the kingdom of God to those who were willing to walk in the Spirit of God and not to those who were of a "carnal mind". To understand the Word of God, it’s important a person first "align" themselves with Jesus and the" Gospel" message. They must accept Jesus as the Son of God, the Messiah, and their personal Savior and Lord. They must understand that God’s Holy Word is spiritual and can only be understood by the Holy Ghost discerning and explaining the real message embedded in the parables. They must have the indwelling of the Holy Ghost to receive the things pertaining to God. Jesus said when He, the Spirit of truth has come, He will guide us into all truths concerning Him. (Jesus)
The parables themselves were earthly stories, but embedded within these stories, God sought to reveal a deeper heavenly truths and godly wisdom to guide the believer in all affairs of life. To the unbeliever, the stories were amusing, some to them bordered on being ridiculous and because of their attitude concerning godly matters, they would ultimately miss the importance of the messages behind each of these parable. Jesus said they have eyes, but they cannot see, ears, but they cannot hear, knowledge, but they never come close to real truth. The bible revealed in Romans 8:7- 9 that "a carnal mind was "enmity"" (hostile) toward God and a person who has “God” issues will never understand the wisdom found in the Word of God, nor will they subjugate themselves to its teachings, precepts, or principles because to them God’s wisdom is foolishness. They will be only concerned with those things that “wet” their fleshly appetites and cater to their personal desires.
As a result, the Spirit of God does not dwell in them and there is nothing that they can do or say (other than to repent and accept God through Jesus Christ) that would put them in harmony with God. The Amplified Bible puts Romans 8:8 this way:
"So then, those who are living the life of the flesh [catering to the appetites and impulses of their carnal nature] cannot please or satisfy God, or be acceptable to Him.
Jesus knows the hearts of men and he knows who will accept him and those who have already rejected him. God knows that his wisdom is foolishness to carnal men and his weakness in wiser than men. (1 Corinthians 1:25)
According to the Bible, not even the natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God because they are foolishness to him, nor can the natural man know them because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Corinthians 2:14) Conversely, "the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God, and God will take the “so-called” wise in their own craftiness". God has a way to deal with so-called wise men who rather live their lives based upon “wicked” devices, rather than humble themselves under God’s mighty hand. The Adam-Clarke Commentary gives us this view: Whether it be the pretended deep and occult wisdom of the rabbis, or the wire-drawn speculations of the Grecian philosophers, is foolishness with God; for as folly consists in spending time, strength, and pains to no purpose, so these may be fitly termed fools who acquire no saving knowledge by their speculations.
This the case with the major part of all "man-made" beliefs that is called philosophy, even in the present day? Has one soul been made wise unto salvation through it? Are our most eminent philosophers either pious or useful men? Who of them is meek, gentle, and humble! Who of them directs his researches so as to meliorate the moral condition of his fellow creatures? Pride, insolence, self-conceit, and complacency, with a general forgetfulness of God, contempt for his word, and despite for the poor, are their general characteristics. The Commentary then breaks down the same verse.
[He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.] This is a quotation from Job 5:13, and powerfully shows what the wisdom of this world is: it is a sort of craft, a subtle
trade, which they carry on to wrong others and benefit themselves; and they have
generally too much cunning to be caught by men; but God often overthrows them
with their own devises. "Paganism" raised the active persecution against the church of
Christ, in order to destroy it, but this method became the very means of quickly spreading it over the earth, and of destroying the whole pagan system. Thus the wise were taken in their own craftiness.
Mark 4:10-12
When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables.He told them, "The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables so that,"'they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!'" (NIV)
Jesus spoke in parables because he wanted to reveal the mysteries of the kingdom of God to those who were willing to walk in the Spirit of God and not to those who were of a "carnal mind". To understand the Word of God, it’s important a person first "align" themselves with Jesus and the" Gospel" message. They must accept Jesus as the Son of God, the Messiah, and their personal Savior and Lord. They must understand that God’s Holy Word is spiritual and can only be understood by the Holy Ghost discerning and explaining the real message embedded in the parables. They must have the indwelling of the Holy Ghost to receive the things pertaining to God. Jesus said when He, the Spirit of truth has come, He will guide us into all truths concerning Him. (Jesus)
The parables themselves were earthly stories, but embedded within these stories, God sought to reveal a deeper heavenly truths and godly wisdom to guide the believer in all affairs of life. To the unbeliever, the stories were amusing, some to them bordered on being ridiculous and because of their attitude concerning godly matters, they would ultimately miss the importance of the messages behind each of these parable. Jesus said they have eyes, but they cannot see, ears, but they cannot hear, knowledge, but they never come close to real truth. The bible revealed in Romans 8:7- 9 that "a carnal mind was "enmity"" (hostile) toward God and a person who has “God” issues will never understand the wisdom found in the Word of God, nor will they subjugate themselves to its teachings, precepts, or principles because to them God’s wisdom is foolishness. They will be only concerned with those things that “wet” their fleshly appetites and cater to their personal desires.
As a result, the Spirit of God does not dwell in them and there is nothing that they can do or say (other than to repent and accept God through Jesus Christ) that would put them in harmony with God. The Amplified Bible puts Romans 8:8 this way:
"So then, those who are living the life of the flesh [catering to the appetites and impulses of their carnal nature] cannot please or satisfy God, or be acceptable to Him.
Jesus knows the hearts of men and he knows who will accept him and those who have already rejected him. God knows that his wisdom is foolishness to carnal men and his weakness in wiser than men. (1 Corinthians 1:25)
According to the Bible, not even the natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God because they are foolishness to him, nor can the natural man know them because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Corinthians 2:14) Conversely, "the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God, and God will take the “so-called” wise in their own craftiness". God has a way to deal with so-called wise men who rather live their lives based upon “wicked” devices, rather than humble themselves under God’s mighty hand. The Adam-Clarke Commentary gives us this view: Whether it be the pretended deep and occult wisdom of the rabbis, or the wire-drawn speculations of the Grecian philosophers, is foolishness with God; for as folly consists in spending time, strength, and pains to no purpose, so these may be fitly termed fools who acquire no saving knowledge by their speculations.
This the case with the major part of all "man-made" beliefs that is called philosophy, even in the present day? Has one soul been made wise unto salvation through it? Are our most eminent philosophers either pious or useful men? Who of them is meek, gentle, and humble! Who of them directs his researches so as to meliorate the moral condition of his fellow creatures? Pride, insolence, self-conceit, and complacency, with a general forgetfulness of God, contempt for his word, and despite for the poor, are their general characteristics. The Commentary then breaks down the same verse.
[He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.] This is a quotation from Job 5:13, and powerfully shows what the wisdom of this world is: it is a sort of craft, a subtle
trade, which they carry on to wrong others and benefit themselves; and they have
generally too much cunning to be caught by men; but God often overthrows them
with their own devises. "Paganism" raised the active persecution against the church of
Christ, in order to destroy it, but this method became the very means of quickly spreading it over the earth, and of destroying the whole pagan system. Thus the wise were taken in their own craftiness.
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