The Secrets of the Kingdom are Not for Everyone

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It's a shocking revelation from Jesus--not all are privileged to get a peek at the secrets of the Kingdom. What the majority gets are mere parables that seem to mean nothing. They just sound like ordinary stories.

Honestly, if you were among the crowds around Jesus and you heard him tell about the Parable of the Sower, you wouldn't automatically get the lesson of the story. And you'd probably come home thinking all you got from Jesus that day were tips on how to plant a seed properly. You wouldn't get a clue that the story was all about how the Word of God was received by people who heard it being preached to them.

Of course, today we know the story and its meanings because we can read how Jesus explained it to the disciples. Back then, the crowds just got the story and went home with some tips on gardening. And the disciples were puzzled--why speak in parables when Jesus could have just talked to them directly and plainly?  Why not just get to the point? The crowds could have understood it better and been saved.

Didn't God want all men to be saved?

But Jesus told them the shocking truth--God intentionally withholds the light of revelation from the crowd.

"Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them." [Matthew 13.11]

Another translation puts it this way:

"You are permitted to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven, but others are not."
You see that? Truth is, permission is only granted to some, though God wants all to be saved.

No wonder then that only so few--even in "Christian" churches--can understand the secrets of the Kingdom. By this then, we see who the real Kingdom people are (citizens of the King's Kingdom) and who are just passing visitors who merely see the gates of the Kingdom--and think seeing the gate makes them citizens.

The secrets were given to the disciples because they believed in Christ and surrendered their lives fully to him while he was still unpopular. See that?

While he was still a nobody---a guy ridiculed by the honored and titled religious leaders of his time, dumped by the rich and belittled by guys with big ministries (like the Pharisees)---his disciples decided to put all their stakes on him. It was like betting your all on a losing candidate.

It seemed a stupid thing to do---but the disciples put their 100 percent trust and confidence on Jesus. This is the reason the secrets were given to them, and not to the crowd.

When you are that desperate for Jesus---believing all his Word and willing to risk your all to obey them (even look stupid doing it), especially his unpopular Word (Word of God that people, especially religious leaders, find foolish or too radical and reject)---then God favors you with the secrets of the Kingdom.

God's "unpopular" Word is what I sometimes call the Unseen Gospel. Church people intentionally fail to see it. Fact, they hate it.

Here's one example of his radical Word:

Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. [Luke 12.33]


Would you really risk all to obey this Word from Jesus? 

If you take radical bible passages like this seriously, people will reject you. They'd say you're nuts and taking it all out of context. And they would do everything to interpret it differently. 

But your reward for believing Jesus Christ is revelation of truth which a lot of people don't have.

Why do so many "Christian" churches not sell their possessions and give to the poor? Why do they keep accumulating properties, possessions and wealth?

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