“I and my Father are one.” (John 10:30)
The Lord Jesus Christ never said plainly, “I am God, I am the second in the Godhead, the Holy Spirit is the third. We are separate individuals yet equal perfectly.”
The Israelites had said for centuries, “The Lord is one,” they knew the Messiah was going to arrive, but they did not realize these truths. They did not kill Him because He said in a way they could barely begin to comprehend that He was God, or even equal to God, they killed Him for jealousy’s sake.
“For he knew that for envy they had delivered him.” (Matt. 27:18)
Even Philip said, “shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.” (John 14:8)
Why all the parables about who He is, why not just come right out and say, “I am God in the flesh?”
“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.” (Matt. 13:14-15)
I have struggled with this verse for many years, for in its essence our Savior is saying, “If I speak to them plainly, apart from the parables, then it will be necessary to save them, and that is not what I want.”
Look at the verse in context if you disagree with that statement, and then contemplate it alongside 2nd Peter 3:9.
“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
As I have stated in these letters to you numerous times, there are no contradictions in the Scriptures, there are though many things that we do not, and may not ever fully understand. His sheep follow Him because we hear His voice and recognize Him for who He is, those who He spoke to in parables were not meant to hear His voice.
And even that, in light of so many other verses in the Word of God seems wrong, incorrect, to even pen on this notepad.
“For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” (Romans 9:15)
There is an enormous trap to fall into here, one side states that the Almighty loves everyone, no matter what, that none are ever truly given over fully to a reprobate mind, that the Lord Jesus Christ will knock on the door of everyone’s heart right up until the moment of their last breath.
And the other side which states, by default, because He said, “Lest they hear me,” that the Most High destines some people to hell.
I do not know why He said that, I do not know why He would not want some people to know who He was and why He came to this earth. But that is what He said.
In my mind it usurps free will, our free will to choose, because if we do not have all the necessary information, we have no possibility of choosing wisely.
Mankind has struggled with the parables of the Scriptures since they were written down for us, the truths of them, to see them plainly, can only be given by the Holy Spirit, and even then, ones such as this short letter considers, can remain beyond our grasp.
“For many are called, but few are chosen.” (Matt. 22:14)
Why choose me? If you have been born-again, why did He choose you? Why are we allowed, blessed to be able to understand, if only in part, some of these parables while others have had them hidden from them?
“There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.” (Romans 3:11)
Yet we were not only called, but heard and heeded that call, while others still are confounded by the parables.
“Lest they hear.”
I will probably always struggle with those verses, in my mind He is saying that He does not want them to hear. There must be something I am missing, but I cannot see it today. Questions of faith my friends can only rest assuredly upon the one offering the information.
I have nothing of value to offer you about this subject matter today.
