Jesus begins to speak in Parables

Matthew 13:10 And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” NKJV

Matthew 13:34-35 All these things Jesus spoke to the multitude in parables; and without a parable He did not speak to them, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying: " I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things kept secret from the foundation of the world." NKJV

While our Lord was still speaking to the multitudes that came to listen to Him, He was told that His Mother, Sister, and Brothers wanted to see Him, but our Lord used that occasion to emphatically show that His allegiance was mighty and strong with not His flesh and blood, but only with the people who would obey His Heavenly Father. Our Lord did not want people to think that they could come to Him superficially or merely intellectually. The depth of His first coming was so radical that He wanted to weed out the people that only wanted physical needs met by Him without wanting their deeper spiritual needs met.

Sin is the spiritual cancer of the soul and man’s heart is where the root of sin lies and it is where our Lord must gain access in order for men to be transformed by His grace. Grace is unmerited favor we receive from Christ Jesus, but it is much more than just that, for it (grace) is what makes a man new and able to then live in a manner pleasing to the Lord and the refusal or resistance of grace is what keeps men’s hearts hardened in sin (like the religious people were then and still today).

Religion is like being bitten by a rattlesnake and waiting for the venom to kill you, but grace is the anti-venom that heals from religion. Our Lord was not going to any longer cast the pearls of the Kingdom of God before the feet of religious swine and dogs who thought they were fine spiritually and didn’t need Him when they had the Law of Moses. You see Christianity is not a religion, but it is the reception of a person (Jesus Christ) and receiving from Him His own resurrection life.  

Matthew 13:13-15 Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: ‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, And seeing you will see and not perceive; For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.’ NKJV

Psalm 81:12 So I gave them over to their own stubborn heart, To walk in their own counsels. NKJV

Proverbs 1:31-32 Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way, And be filled to the full with their own fancies. For the turning away of the simple will slay them, And the complacency of fools will destroy them. NKJV

Isaiah 66:4 “So will I choose their delusions, And bring their fears on them; Because, when I called, no one answered, When I spoke they did not hear; But they did evil before My eyes, And chose that in which I do not delight.” NKJV

Therefore, the Scripture continues out of Matthew Chapter 12 with our Lord (on the same day) leaving the house He was in and going down by the sea to sit in a boat and then He totally changed the way He spoke to everyone that followed to hear His words. He began to speak in parables. After being accused of doing His miracles by the power of satan and not by YAWAH’s power our Lord begins to use parables to both reveal spiritual truth to those sincere in heart hearers (His true disciples, all that the Father would give Him) and to conceal spiritual truth to those harden hearts (namely the religious people) who spent much of their time following Him trying to keep others from receiving healing at His hand. He also wanted to weed out those only interested in miracle seeking and we see that very phenomena today with the weird manifestations taking place in various places where people are laughing uncontrollably and other weird things and saying that is the work of God the Holy Spirit.

The change in His teaching was so dramatic that one of the disciples asked the Lord, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” What is a parable? The Greek word our Lord used was the word parabole, which means a similitude, that is, (symbolically) fictitious narrative (of common life conveying a moral truth). They had never heard Him speak to the multitudes in that way before, but He wanted to stop the mouths of His naysayers by confounding them in their hearts. You see His parables needed explanation and He would only reveal the Kingdom mysteries and truths to His disciples in private. This is what our Lord does still today. Religious affiliation and activity will in no way avail one to the deep endless well of spiritual truth found in the Word of God. Only a heart that has been regenerated, born again, made alive from being dead in trespasses and sins by Christ can begin to have the ears to hear and eyes to see the truth from the riches of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is by His Spirit that His true disciples are not only taught from His word, but also our spirits/souls are nourished by His words even as our physical bodies are nourished by food.

Matthew 13:16-17 But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it. NKJV

1 Timothy 4:6 If you instruct the brethren in these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which you have carefully followed. NKJV

Psalm 119:38 Establish Your word to Your servant, Who is devoted to fearing You. NKJV

Psalm 119:68 You are good, and do good; Teach me Your statutes. NKJV

“A parable is a shell that keeps good fruit for the diligent, but keeps it from the slothful.” Matthew Henry

“What a sinner needs is life, not some sublime thought. A believer needs whatever can nourish his spiritual life, not mere Bible knowledge. If all we communicate are excellent sermonic divisions, wonderful parables, transcendent abstractions, clever words, or logical arguments, we are but supplying additional thoughts to the people's minds, arousing their emotions once again, or activating their will to make one more decision. A sinner needs to have his spirit resurrected, not to be able to argue better, shed profuse tears, or make a firmer resolve.” Watchman Nee

If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...

Sincerely in Christ,

Clifford D. Tate, Sr.

Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reader, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…