majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Matthew 13:11-15,
"He [Jesus] replied, 'The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of
heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be
given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even
what he has will be taken from him. This is why I speak to them in
parables:
Though seeing, they do not see;
though hearing, they do not hear or understand.
In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:
"You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
For this people's heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them."'"
Here Jesus speaks of the astonishing nature of how fair and just he
is. The Lord elected, before the beginning of time and knowing Adam
and Eve would fall, that he would reserve for himself all who would
embrace him in faith. All others will face his judgment to spend
eternity in the "lake of fire". Because of this he has "cloaked"
himself and the truths of the kingdom of heaven through parables and
in other ways, to enable the opportunity for faith to manifest itself
in the hearts of all who are willing.
Mankind is sinful and stubborn. Here in Jesus' quote of Isaiah 6, he
speaks of the callousness of people's hearts and their closed eyes.
Were it not so, sinners would turn to him - and he discloses that if
they would do so, he would "heal them". The Lord has no favorites. He
loves all mankind and he will heal, save, any and all who will turn to
him.
The deceitfulness of sin is all that prevents anyone from turning to
God. Jesus spoke of this very thing with Nicodemus in John 3:18-21,
"Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not
believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the
name of God's one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come
into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their
deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not
come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But
whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be
seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God."
We read in John 1:12 "Yet to all who received him, to those who
believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God..."
How wonderful the Lord doesn't require us to jump through religious
hoops to come to him! He has made himself available to all - if only
they turn from the deceitfulness of sin to embrace him in faith!
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
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