“And He was saying to them, ‘To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but those who are outside get everything in parables, so that WHILE SEEING, THEY MAY SEE AND NOT PERCEIVE, AND WHILE HEARING, THEY MAY HEAR AND NOT UNDERSTAND, OTHERWISE THEY MIGHT RETURN AND BE FORGIVEN.'” – Mark 4:12
Why in the world would God want to preach the gospel in ways that nobody could understand!? What are you up to, God, that you would make the gospel intentionally opaque to some?
“For whoever has, to him more shall be given; and whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.” – Mark 4:25
This seems quite counter-intuitive. Maybe not even fair? But it is the Lord’s rule, so we submit to this way of things. Lord, reveal to me how this works.
“And He was saying, ‘The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil; and he goes to bed at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts and grows–how, he himself does not know. The soil produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head. But when the crop permits, he immediately puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.'” – Mark 2:26-29
This is how people are saved: sometimes there is no definable point of salvation, but we “wake up” and realize that God has sometime during the “night” done a work in our hearts, and we have begun to show fruit. That is a blessed revelation. And when the grain has continued to grow to maturity (like we do), it will be harvested (into heaven), which is the consumation of salvation.
Ben Taylor 