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Introduction
We read in Matthew 13: "The same day went Jesus out
of the house, and sat by the sea side. And great
multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he
went into a ship, and sat; and the whole multitude stood
on the shore. And He spake many things unto them in
parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow; And
when he had sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and
the fowls came and devoured them up: Some fell upon stony
places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they
sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: And when
the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had
no root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns;
and the thorns sprung up, and choked them: But other fell
Into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an
hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. Who hath
ears to hear, let him hear."
God used
that verse to awaken me to the fact that the seven letters
of Revelation and these parables belong together. He
closed them with the same expression. Let us read on.
"And
the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou
unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them,
Because It is given unto you to know the mysteries of the
kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For
whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have
more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be
taken away even that he hath. Therefore speak I to them In
parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they
hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is
fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing
ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye
shall see,, and shall not perceive: For this people's
heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing,
and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they
should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and
should understand with their heart, and should be
converted, and I should heal them. But blessed are your
eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear."
The
Revelation says: He (or she) that has part in the first
resurrection is blessed and holy. The first resurrection
is the spiritual resurrection. When we are resurrected
from our dead condition of trespasses and sin we are
blessed as individuals. Blessed eyes, blessed ears,
blessed feet, and blessed hands. "Blessed are your
eyes for they see and your ears for they hear, for verily
I say unto you that many prophets and righteous men have
desired to see those things which you see, and have not
seen them, and to hear those things you hear and have not
heard them."
Now when
we deal with the seven letters and the seven parables I am
sure that you are all aware of the fact that seven In the
Word of God Is an Important number. There are seven
parables and seven letters, and we find seven churches and
seven angels, and seven lamps and seven seals, and seven
trumpets and seven thunders and seven heads and seven
horns. Go back to the Old Testament and we read about the
seven cattle and seven ears. It is all very important. The
11th verse tells us why Christ dealt with parables.
Let us
take our time with this. I have a great burden to keep the
simplicity of the Gospel. God used these parables to teach
the kingdom. Could we find anything better? Let us look at
the 11th verse. Jesus said, "It is given unto you
(His disciples) to know the mysteries of the kingdom of
Heaven, but to them It Is not given." Now, let us
underline that word, GIVEN, and get it fixed in our minds
that it is a gift--it is not earned. We are living in a
day when a man is not qualified if he has not earned
certain things, but this, is something that Is given.
"It is given to you to know the mysteries of the
kingdom of Heaven. But to them it is not." That is,
to those that have not opened heart and mind to receive
the blessed truth.
There are
two words here that we want to study in the beginning. He
said to know the "mysteries of the kingdom" of
heaven (and He used the plural), and I would like to say
that for every mystery there is about the kingdom, someone
has given us a false teaching about it. But it is given to
us to know the mysteries and when something has been given
to us through a medium, we can understand the mysteries of
the kingdom of God and see It alike. Let us underline that
word, mystery. Webster says: That which is beyond human
comprehension. We are going to 'leave off' that, which can
be gained by Intellectual power, and try to get hold of
something Jesus tried to give Nicodemus If we ever learn
of the kingdom. He said, "You must be born again to
see the kingdom. That which is born of the flesh is flesh
and that which is born of the spirit is spirit." We
are surely agreed that there are many mysteries, and we
will mention just a few.
There are
the mystery of Christ, the mystery of the faith, the
mystery of God, the mystery of the seven stars, the
mystery of iniquity, and the mystery of babylon. We want
to emphasize again to you as we study this lesson, even as
Jesus did, the necessity of the aid of the Holy Spirit of
God, to understand spiritual things. Paul said in I Cor.
2:9, "…Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither
have entered into the heart of man, the things which God
hath prepared for them that love Him." And most
people quit there, and say, "We Just can't
know." However, let us read the 10th verse. "But
God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit: for the
Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of
God." Then He went on to say in the 14th verse,
"But the natural man receiveth not the things of the
Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither
can he know them, because they are spiritually
discerned."
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