Why Jesus Kept Saying, "He Who Has Ears, Let Him Hear" (Isa. 6, Matt. 13)

An effective teacher uses illustrations and parables to clarify and explain. Jesus, the "Good Teacher," used them to prevent the Jews from knowing the truth about Him. Why would He do that? We discuss in today's study.

[@SheepofChrist818]

One of my favorite of Jesus’ sayings.

[@Dave-wu5ic]

Hi Doug, I'd like to ask your opinion on the following quote: "All right, that’s all kind of introductory - and what we have begun with is this important linchpin that holds everything together: God’s purpose for Israel; God’s purpose for Israel. If we get this right, then we get the KINGDOM right, and everything moves, works around the KINGDOM; so we have to get God’s PROMISES to Israel right and the KINGDOM right, and then basically EVERYTHING else works around that. Simply put, God made COVENANTS and PROMISES to a people - a people that came out of the loins of Abraham, that came through the patriarchs - became known as the people called Israel. God made PROMISES with them. God made COVENANTS with them that define the nature and the character, largely, of the KINGDOM of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is the final, great, glorious end of human history on this earth. So that the FUTURE is centered on this KINGDOM, which while including all the redeemed of all the ages - we’ll all be there, in glorified form or in still living form - is still uniquely designed to fulfill promises to Israel. We will enter into the blessing of the kingdom, just as we enter into the new covenant promised to Israel, just as we enter in to the promises given to Abraham; we are, in a sense, spiritual children of Abraham by faith. So, we participate in all the good things that God promised to Israel, but not to their exclusion, but in company with His promises being fulfilled to them. The bottom line: in the future, there will be a generation of Jews who will come to faith in Jesus Christ collectively, as a people. And when that happens, Jesus will return to give them His promised kingdom - it awaits their salvation; it awaits their salvation. Now again, the Bible is clear on this; the Bible speaks of this with frequency, unmistakably. These are divine promises." key statement from the above quote: "everything moves, works around the kingdom"

[@KriegWaters]

I'm not Doug, but my name is also a four letter word that starts with "D." ;) The problem that stands out to me with that quote is that it doesn't center things around Jesus. Jesus is the purpose of all of creation (Col 1:15-20) and the main subject of the Scriptures (Luke 24:25-27). To make national Israel and/or God's dealings with them the focus is to miss the main point. The point is Jesus. Israel was a picture of Jesus and His people, but now has no more right to Abraham's promises in Christ than Ishmael (Galatians 4:21-31), not to mention Edom or Midian. The only meaningful way for us to be children of Abraham is spiritually. Jesus is the true Seed of Abraham and it is through faith in Him that anyone else inherits God's promises (Galatians 3). It's worth noting that belonging to Jesus also removes the Jew/Gentile identity. Every Israelite but Jesus broke God's Covenant and earned its curses (Deuteronomy 28-30), so Jesus is really the only one who earned the right to have God as His God and be called His people. The prophets occasionally refer to the Messiah as Israel and conflate or equate the two (Isaiah 49), which seems to anticipate this reality. The kicker, however, is that Jesus and His Apostles give us very clear answers in their interpretation and application of the Old Testament in the New Testament. In a sense, it is central to understand God's promises to Israel. We must understand them in light of Jesus, as being fulfilled by Jesus, and being made to and by virtue of Jesus.

[@Dave-wu5ic]

@@KriegWaters great reply, Dale. I agree with your answer. The quote I shared is from John MacArthur. He clearly rejects Jesus & the NT authors defining the covenants & promises of the OT. MacArthur has the same future kingdom expectation of the Pharisees. Can someone reject Jesus Word defining the covenants & promises, but still claim to preach the same Gospel? ROOT OF DISPENSATIONALISM Denial of the Davidic King & Kingdom. Scofield Bible NT introduction: Therefore, in approaching the study of the Gospels the mind should be freed, so far as possible, from mere theological concepts and presuppositions. Especially is it necessary to exclude the notion - a legacy in Protestant thought from post-apostolic and Roman Catholic theology - that the church is the true Israel, and that the Old Testament forereview of the kingdom is fulfilled in the church. Do not, therefore, assume interpretations to be true because familiar. Do not assume that "the throne of David"(Luke1:32) is synonymous with "my father's throne"(Rev3:21) or that "the house of Jacob"(Luke1:33) is the church comprised of both Jew & Gentile.

[@waterbaby2463]

I guess I'm a little confused on what you're implying. Jesus is not separate from God therefore God's covenants to Israel hold true. The only issue I see is in who is Israel? According to Pauline theology Israel is those of faith who are not led by flesh but by God's Spirit. Those who have "ears to hear". Ears to hear I believe is a direct reflection of salvific grace.

[@waterbaby2463]

Thank you for all your efforts on your channel. I can see your passion for Christ.

[@CrossToCrownLive]

I appreciate that.

[@t_doc]

good lesson, thanks for sharing :)

[@CrossToCrownLive]

You're welcome.

[@goodnewsofdivinemercy4286]

The first mistake most people make is they read the scripture to teach someone else instead of themselves. Read the Scripture like it was written to you and about you. Jesus requires the Holy Spirit to teach us. Jesus preached 1 message, Sermon on the Mount, Sermon on the Plain They are both the same. one to the Rich one to the Poor. This Sermon is the words of God according to Jesus and they are Spirit and Life. The problem on one wants to live them. Jesus lived the Sermon that he Preached.

[@P.H.888]

Context, This was while the Sinai covenant was in operation. Jesus ✝️🩸 cut The New Covenant 🕊️ Love God Love people

[@GTX1123]

Yes, let him who has ears hear what God is saying to us through the full counsel of His word regarding God's hardening of Israel. Paul makes it very clear in Romans 11 that the judgment / hardening of Israel is not permanent. This is consistent with Jeremiah 31:35-37. Paul says a "hardening in part to Israel has happened until that the fulness of the Gentiles as come in" (Romans 11:25 Interlinear Translation). So the judgment Yeshua pronounced upon Jerusalem in Matthew 23 was severe but not permanent. Paul makes it clear to the Gentile believers in Rome that they as the Church have not replaced Israel and that when "the fulness of the Gentiles has come in, and so all Israel shall be saved". "All Israel" isn't referring to the Church here but to the physical seed of Abraham. There is absolutely, positively no other way to exegete this text. So then, there will come a future event that will be a national repentance on the part of Israel that will be "life from the dead". Christians need to understand that when Paul talks about the Church provoking Israel to jealousy, the idea that the Church had replaced Israel was not what he had in mind, but rather that Jews would see and experience the supernatural power and love of God in Christians, provoking them to want the same thing.

[@STEVEinNC]

The "fullness of the gentiles" equals "All Israel" (meaning all spiritual Israel, which includes believing physical descendants of Abraham and believing gentiles).

[@GTX1123]

@@STEVEinNC This is bad exegesis / hermeneutics because it ignores the broader context of chapters 9-11. When Paul says "and so all Israel shall be saved" he's talking about the many prophecies in the Tanakh which promise a future full and complete redemption for corporate Israel as a physical nation as part of what is commonly referred to as the "Tikkun Olam" - the restoration of all things (Messiah's millennial reign). Yeshua makes it very clear in Matthew 23 that His own people will not see Him again until they say; בָּרוּךְ הַבָּא, בְּשֵׁם יְהוָה Zecharariah 12 and other prophecies make it clear that there WILL be a future corporate repentance on the part of Israel which will happen at the time of "Jacob's trouble" (Jeremiah 30). The broader context of Romans chapters 9-11 is Paul correcting Roman Gentile believers because they had become arrogant and haughty against Jews in general, but more specifically towards their fellow Jewish believers. They were "boasting against the root" believing that they had replaced Israel. This was a consequence of Claudius' expulsion of Jews from Rome which lasted until the end of his reign. Years later when Jews were allowed to return to Rome at the very beginning of Nero's reign, Jewish believers got the cold shoulder from their Roman Gentile brethren. If we look at the verses which follow Paul's "all Israel shall be saved" statement, he says this; "as it is written: “The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins.” Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers". This last part along with Paul admonishing these Gentile believers that God was able to "graft them [Israel] in again" in verse 23, clearly shows us what Paul means when he says "all Israel shall be saved".

[@STEVEinNC]

@@GTX1123 "But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved," Romans 9:6‭-‬8‭, ‬27 And so all Spiritual Israel, a chosen remnant, elected, precious, from every nation, tribe, people and language, shall be saved, and not one shall be lost.

[@GTX1123]

@@STEVEinNC Wrong again. You're conflating multuple issues. Yes, Gentile believers are the spiritual seed of Abraham. We agree there. Yes, Gentile believers are wild olive branches grafted into the natural olive tree known as Israel - sometimes referred to as the "Commonwealth of Israel". But that doesn't mean that they are now Jews. We see this distinction made in Acts 15 where Gentiles are not required to live as Jews. But conversely, it was assumed that Jewish believers would continue to live as Jews. So there is a CLEAR distinction made there, otherwise they would have required Gentiles to live as Jews; i.e. it's why Paul rebuked the Galatians for wanting to be circumcised but in Acts 16 he circumcised Timothy. Those distinctions not withstanding, ALL are one in the Messiah; i.e. "there is neither Jew nor Gentile" = no distinction in regards to equal worth and equal standing before God but distinctions are still important in terms of calling. It's fine if Gentiles want to adopt a Jewish lifestyle for the right reasons but it doesn't mean that all Gentiles are now Jews. Per the scripture you are quoting from Romans 9, this is easily understood in light of Romans 2:28 where Paul is making the same point. In both passages Paul is making a distinction between the believing saved Jewish remnant of Israel versus Jews who do not believe. This is NOT a reference to Gentiles being grafted into the commonweath of Israel.

[@OgaugeTrainsplusslotCars]

What sign was Jesus Christ. ♐️👍

[@P.H.888]

Poor question.

[@jivanvasant]

LITERAL, SURFACE MEANINGS ARE MULTIFARIOUS Jesus invented the New Testament pesher of double-meanings (surface and encoded) to hide the true history of the origin of the Christian Church and the origin of the Christian scriptures. He was a political activist, a religious reformed, and the heir apparent (prince), bloodline descendant of the royal House of David, for which he held the Title of Christ, a political position, not a religious identity. Biblical scholars of early Christian church history who cannot or will not include the pesher discovered by Dr. Barbara Thiering in the Dead Sea Scrolls found in the village of Qumran do not have the most relevant historical facts. Claims that omit pesher would be speculative, erroneous and fallacious, with no valid, documentary evidence or arguments to prove such claims. The Pesher of Christ: The True Story of Jesus and his Church by Dylan Stephens | Nov 28, 2017 This book reveals the true history of Jesus and his Church (8BC - 112AD) by means of the Pesher of Christ. Pages 6-7 > The White Horse (Rev 6:1,2) Author: Matthew (written last). Matthias, High Priest 43 AD, a Sadduccee, Matthew, disciple of Jesus. III. (48 AD) Gospel of Matthew The Gospel of Matthew was written by the Sadducee Priest Matthew Ananus. Matthew … wanted to build an epic story similar to Luke so he added the Sermon on the Mount from the Jewish sages such as Hillel …, and added more parables (Luke’s concept of explaining new and old history). Most importantly he added the Bethlehem Birth with the Magi who were the only ones who recognized Jesus as the true descendant of David…. (The shepherds are from Luke which only has Jesus’ symbolic birth: Bar Mitzvah.) Pages 8-9 > The Red Horse (Rev 6:3,4) Author: Peter, scribed by Mark (not John Mark) (written second). (Fragments of Papyrus, Eccl Hist 3:39:15 ….) IV. (48 AD) Gospel of Mark The Gospel of Mark was written by Peter, Jesus’ cardinal. Peter set out to write a no-nonsense commentary with no virgin birth, seven miracles, and no Resurrection. The miracles are merely changes of doctrine … Pages 10-11 > The Black Horse (Rev 6:5,6) Author: Jesus, scribed by Luke (written third). V. (48 AD) Gospel of Luke The Gospel of Luke was written by Jesus. Jesus saw the need to write a more complete gospel that would tell his side of the story, leaving out Simon Magus. He also used parables or seemingly simple moral stories to illustrate the past and present history. Matthew would copy this in his Gospel. Pages 12-13 > The Green (Pale) Horse (Rev 6:7,8) Author: Jesus and Simon Magus, scribed by John Mark (written first, but revised later). VI. (48 AD) Gospel of John The Gospel of John is essentially Jesus’ words with some of Simon Magus’s philosophy. Although the first to be written, in its revisions by James Niceta, Pope Simon Magus’ presence is hidden by using nicknames for him such as Simon of Cyrene, Lazarus, … and his consort Helena: …, made it the last to be canonized. https ://www .jewishvirtuallibrary .org /pesher Jewish Virtual Library > pesher PESHER (Heb. פֵּשֶׁר), word meaning "interpretation." It occurs only once in the Hebrew Bible: "Who is as the wise man? and who knoweth the interpretation of a thing?" (Eccl. 8:1). However, the Aramaic word peshar occurs 31 times in the Aramaic portion of Daniel, where it mainly refers to dream interpretation. In Qumran texts [Dead Sea Scrolls], it usually occurs after a biblical quotation, introducing its interpretation. As such it refers to a particular technique of interpretation which may be paralleled to midrashic exegesis.

[@davidromisch6430]

"He who has ears let him hear" Hear what? Hear who? We have the answer given to us seven times.. "He who has ears let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches" Revelation Chapter 2 & 3

[@billbrock8547]

A clown show.