WHY CHRIST HID TRUTHS WITHIN HIS PARABLES

 

 

This question had troubled me for years. It seemed as if Jesus didn’t want the unbeliever to come to the knowledge of the truth and to be saved – contrary to the Scriptures claiming that God wanted all to be saved (2 Peter 3:9). His words had seemed unfair to me:

·       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. Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says: ‘You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive. For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.’” (Matthew 13:10–15; ESV; Isaiah 6:9-10)

 

Why didn’t Jesus speak clearly to the people so they could understand? They did not want to understand! Elsewhere, Jesus described them as lovers of the darkness, the lie rather than of the truth:

 

·       And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. (John 3:19–20)

 

God didn’t shut their eyes and ears. They did! Paul claimed that God had eventually allowed these lovers of the darkness to go their own way:

 

·       Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. (Romans 1:24–28)

 

They got what they wanted. It was because they had turned away from God that He turned from them, allowing them to pursue their passions – “the lusts of their hearts.” Nothing unfair about it! Therefore, Isaiah proclaimed: “For this people’s heart has grown dull.”

 

When God allows us to go our own way, we inevitably become more corrupt both in our “dishonorable passions” and in our “debased mind,” (Romans 1). This introduces a harder question:

 

What would have been the harm had Jesus taught more plainly rather than in parables? Why did He keep His truths hidden? I think that He has always wanted to make a clear distinction between His children and the children of the world. All too often, it seems as if the children of the world are more impressive than His own children. Therefore, one of the reasons that the Lord brought the 10 plagues upon the Egyptians, and not on Israel, was to make a clear distinction between the two peoples:

 

·       “There shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there has never been, nor ever will be again. But not a dog shall growl against any of the people of Israel, either man or beast, that you may know that the LORD makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.” (Exodus 11:6–7; 9:4)

 

He also makes this distinction in another way. As God allows those who reject Him to go their own way, their minds and lives become corrupted. Meanwhile, His children become wise:

 

·       “Many shall purify themselves and make themselves white and be refined, but the wicked shall act wickedly. And none of the wicked shall understand, but those who are wise shall understand.” (Daniel 12:10; 2 Timothy 3:13)

 

We are beginning to see the foolishness of this world more plainly as sound principles of justice are overthrown in favor of Marxist “justice,” which gives preference to groups deemed as “oppressed” over those individuals who are innocent of criminal activity. Boys can no longer be considered boys, or even called “boys.” Instead, it has become a matter of choice.

 

And yet, such foolishness is according to God’s plan, in which the wicked are allowed to become more wicked and more foolish, the great divide:

 

·       Let the evildoer still do [more] evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do [more] right, and the holy still be holy.” (Revelation 22:11)

 

Rather than ensuring that everyone would have exactly the same things, our Lord sought to clearly distinguish between the two groups:

·       “For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.” (Mark 4:25)

 

How will it be “taken away?” By their own choices; by their love of the darkness of the lie. Consequently, they will call the evil “good” and the good “evil” (Isaiah 5:20), and the world will see it. Some will wake up (2 Timothy 2:24-26) to the lunacy, others will stumble in the darkness, hating any ray of the truth. No wonder the parables! They would attract those who love the light and repel those who didn’t.