Does Jesus Use the Parables to Conceal the Kingdom?
Well, lets dig into this quote from Isaiah. What’s going on there? Isaiah is a prophet to Israel in a time of great disobedience and unfaithfulness. And God gives him this message to proclaim, “You will listen continually, but won’t understand. You will look continually, but will not perceive.” Is God saying, even if you try to listen, I will make sure you don’t hear? The announcement by a prophet that the people won’t see or understand is not prescriptive, its not declaring the inevitable. It’s diagnostic. The prophet announces to the people that their hearts are hard and their eyes are blind in order to move them to listen. Not to seal their fate. It’s the equivalent of yelling, “Are you blind?” in an argument. It’s rhetorical, you say it in the hopes that they will see, not in the hopes that they won’t. Jesus is drawing a parallel between Isaiah’s ministry and his own. He has entered into a situation where the people’s hearts are already hardened and they have already closed their e
Related Questions
- Jesus said, "Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not; for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven" (`Mark 10:14`). Does this not mean that there will be infants in heaven?
- Jesus told His apostles that some of them would be alive when He comes into His kingdom. What did He mean?
- Why did Jesus teach in parables according to Marks gospel?
