Jesus answers this very question.
Mark 4:10-12, “When Jesus was alone, some of those who had heard him came to him with the twelve disciples and asked him to explain the parables. ‘You have been given the secret of the Kingdom of God,’ Jesus answered. ‘But the others, who are on the outside, hear all things by means of parables, so that, They may look and look, yet not see; they may listen and listen, yet not understand. For if they did, they would turn to God, and he would forgive them.’”
Mark 4:33-34, “Jesus preached his message to the people, using many other parables like these…but when he was alone with his disciples, he would explain everything to them.”
Mathew 13:10-16, “Then the disciples came to Jesus and asked him, ‘Why do you use parables when you talk to the people?’ Jesus answered, ‘The knowledge about the secrets of the Kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them…The reason I use parables in talking to them is that they look, but do not see, and they listen, but do not hear or understand. So the prophecy of Isaiah applies to them: ‘This people will listen and listen, but not understand; they will look and look, but not see, because their minds are dull, and they have stopped up their ears and have closed their eyes. Otherwise, their eyes would see, their ears would hear, their minds would understand, and they would turn to me, says God, and I would heal them.’ As for you, how fortunate you are! Your eyes see and your ears hear.’”
We will break it down.
- God’s Word as not intended to be understood by the world at large.
- God only revealed His plan to a select few people whose minds and hearts were opened to understand.
- Jesus did not want the whole world to be converted.
Jesus’ answer should make us want to ask a whole lot more questions.
Most Christian churches teach that you have to accept Jesus now or you will go to hell. If that were true, then why did Jesus purposely not want people to be converted? Didn’t he want people to be saved? Of course he did! So then you have to reexamine many of the main stream doctrines to see if they square with this reasoning of Jesus.
In will be during Christ’s glorious reign on earth that the whole world will taught of Jesus. Then, “They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD…” Isaiah 11:9. “…I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God…and no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least…to the greatest…I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” Jeremiah 31:33, 34.
