In today’s world, we are all about inclusivity. We don’t want to alienate people or make them feel left out or bad. That’s a great thing when dealing with people in our daily lives. We should be loving and accepting of others. We can share information and knowledge with people we meet and form relationships with them.
But if you had a deep secret, you wouldn’t want to tell just anybody, right? You would only tell the people you trust. If you told just anyone, that person could tell someone else and then your secret is no longer a secret. We all have things we would only tell to people we trust. God has those things, too.
Jesus and the Secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven
We know that Jesus came and preached the gospel of the kingdom of heaven. On one occasion, after giving a parable about the kingdom of heaven, Jesus’s disciples realized that they were unable to fully understand the meaning. So they decided to ask him about it.
Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.
For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.“
Matthew 13:10-13
The parables in God’s Word are called the “secrets of the kingdom of Heaven”. So do you think Jesus would tell these secrets to just anybody?
You vs Them: The Qualities Needed to Receive the Secrets
“To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.“
What kind of people does God want to have to understand His parables? Let’s look at what Jesus says in Matthew 5. This is that famous chapter where Jesus gives us the “beatitudes”, or I like to think of them as the “be – attitudes”, because those are the kind of attitudes God wants from His people.
He says that “you”, believers, should be humble, spiritually hungry and thirsty for God’s Word. Be merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers, able to endure persecution for righteousness’ sake.
People that have a genuine desire to know and understand God’s Word better are the kinds of people God would trust with His secrets.
On the other hand, people who are arrogant, uninterested, and don’t ask questions – people who aren’t serious about God or His Word – these are people whom God doesn’t share His secrets with. They are the “them”. As Jesus says, these people don’t see, don’t hear, nor do they understand God’s Word.
Does this mean that if you haven’t heard about God’s Word, then you won’t get to go to heaven? Absolutely not. Jesus was referring to those people who were right there with him, amongst the disciples, who watched the miracles he performed, listened to the words he spoke, but then rejected him or refused to follow his teachings. The Words of God that Jesus was giving had no place in their hearts or minds.
Hiding the Secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven from the Enemy
Information in the wrong hands can be dangerous. If a spy tells top secret information to the wrong person, then the enemy could find out and do all they can to harm the spy and the country they’re with.
Jesus spoke in parables to hide God’s secrets about the kingdom of heaven from the enemy and his workers. God’s enemy is Satan. Satan always tries to stop God’s plan and work. God uses people who belong to Him to deliver His Word to the world. Satan uses people who belong to him to confuse, divide, and keep people from understanding God’s word.
How Does the Enemy Work?
The people Satan uses, though, aren’t just any random people. In 2 Corinthians 11:13-15, it says that Satan disguises himself as an “angel of light” and his servants also do the same. They look and speak like God’s pastors, but what they’re actually saying isn’t God’s Word. In Matthew 23 and John 8, Jesus calls the Pharisees and religious leaders out on their false teachings and hypocrisy. This is because Satan was using them to keep the Jewish people from coming to Jesus and believing in him.
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.”
Matthew 23:13-14
Jesus says the Pharisees voided the Word of God for the sake of their own traditions. They made it hard for people to enter the kingdom of heaven due their man-made rules and teachings. He said they spoke like the devil by telling lies.
“You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”
John 8:44
The lies they told weren’t worldly lies, but false teachings about God’s Word at that time (the Old Testament Law and the prophets).
Can You Be Trusted with the Secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven?
God wants to share the secrets of the kingdom of heaven to people who are humble, and hunger and thirst for His Word and Truth. God wants believers who are faithful to Him. Those who believe in His Word, and who also know when and how to speak in order to save as many people from Satan as possible.
The Pharisees and those who belonged to them were not told the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, nor the explanations. They didn’t want to humble themselves, nor seek understanding from Jesus.
“Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”
John 8:47
They claimed to believe in God but refused to come to the one who God sent. Jesus’s disciples, on the other hand, were told the secrets of heaven in parables and received the explanations because they asked questions. They thirsted for knowledge and understanding from Jesus, and believed in the words he gave them.
So now it comes back to you. Do you have a heart to understand and seek God’s kingdom? Are you willing to lay down your own thoughts, traditions, or expectations in order to receive God’s Words as He intended them? If you think about your life of faith right now, are you someone whom God can trust with His secrets?
Written by Kenny
Read More
Why Did God Create Satan…Or Did He?
Why Are the Pharisees the Bad Guys in the New Testament?
Is God Able to Trust Everyone?
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