“You are permitted to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven, but others are not.”

The thirteenth chapter of Matthew is a stunning indictment upon the unbeliever. Previous to chapter 13, Matthew records that Jesus said that “not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter heaven” (7:21).

Atheists have told me often that they have read the Bible dozens of times, and this is why they are an atheist. Jesus said that reading the Bible with the attitude of an atheist, will convey no knowledge to you whatsoever.

Jesus also said that only the genuine believer is given the gift of the Holy Spirit to live inside, and only by the Holy Spirit, can anyone really understand the immeasurable truths of the Bible.

“But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you” (John 14:26).

“You are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.) And Christ lives within you…” (Romans 8:9-10).

Jesus said that all our efforts at knowing God and the Bible are ineffective before we turn from our sins and fully commit ourselves to live for Jesus for the rest of our life:

“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.” ~John 6:63

Paul wrote to the church at Corinth that genuine knowledge about God is not acquired by human education, or knowledge. God only reveals Himself to the humble who repent of all sin; who agree with Him that we are all sinners and desperately need redemption by the death and resurrection of Jesus. Paul told the believers at the church in Corinth, that this wisdom of God, comes only by revelation from the Spirit of God who lives only inside the believer.

“So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the world’s brilliant debaters? God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish. Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never know him through human wisdom…But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit…Who can know the LORD’s thoughts? But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.” ~1 Corinthians 1:20-21, 2:10,16

Matthew 13 is a revelation from Jesus that not everyone who reads the Bible is permitted to understand its deepest principles.

As I wrote the title to this essay, I realized that this statements would sound to some, like heresy, and false teaching. After all, doesn’t God want every person to know Him and find salvation? The answer of course is, yes.

The reason that Jesus came into the world was so that every person would have the opportunity to know that God exists, He loves them, and He has provided a way for all of us to have heaven as our eternal home.

If you are sincerely seeking to know God and His Word, He will reveal Himself to you.

In This Essay You Will Also Learn That God Knows Who Doesn’t Want To Know Him

David wrote in Psalm 138, that God knew us when we were being formed in our mother’s womb. All of our days were planned by God when we were still an incomplete human being. He knew everything about us and He wanted for us to know as much as possible about Him.

“You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered!” ~Psalms 139:13-17

As much as God wants us to know Him, He also knows who does not want to know Him. This is a strange idea because in Romans chapter 1, God states through Paul that He created us with a knowledge that He exists:

What may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. ~Romans 1:19

The Koine-Greek texts for this verse of scripture is clear by the term, “in them (φανερον εστιν εν αυτοις),” describes an inherent, inborn, preexisting knowledge of God. The conscience that God created inside every human being tells us that God exists—that our words and actions are either right or wrong. Every human being is born with a conscience, but some people, “suppress” their conscience, and ignore what they know to be true.

God knows and can see when a person suppresses their conscience and doesn’t listen to it, though they might claim they really don’t know if God exists. He says that these person are lying, because He created them with knowledge that He exists.

Paul states in this text from Romans that some people, “suppress the truth by their wickedness.” ~Romans 1:18

God knows when a person is pretending that they don’t know He exists, and when they are saying or doing things they know is not right. It is not a mystery to God, nor is there anything that is hidden from Him. Every thought and intent of our mind and heart, He knows. We humans can hide things from other humans, but we cannot hide our thoughts, intents, or desires, from God.

“Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable.” ~Hebrews 4:12-13

God Despises The Suppression Of Knowledge That People Have About Him

How do you feel what you know that someone knows something about you, because you have told them the truth, but they act as though they don’t know?

Imagine what it is like for God who created everything that exists, and knows all things, to see that a person knows that He exists, but pretends that He does not?

This is the subject of Jesus’ comments to His disciples in Matthew chapter 13, Mark 4, and Luke 8, regarding whom God reveals wisdom to concerning the Bible.

Matthew 13:1-16: The People Who Are Permitted To Know God And The Bible In Its Depth:

Chapter 13 of Matthew begins with Jesus departing the house He had been in and traveling to the lake nearby to sit in a boat and teach a large crowd of people who had come to hear Him.

Jesus has already told the people in these large crowds that they weren’t really coming to hear Him, understand what He was saying, and learn, they came because they wanted something from Him. Most of the people who came to hear Jesus, came to see Him perform miracles, or to be fed by Him.

Very few wanted to hear what He had to say, understand what He said, and learn what Jesus was seeking to teach them. Most of the people in the world today are exactly the same. They are not really interested in what Jesus has to say, and they don’t want to learn.

These are the people that God prohibits from understanding what Jesus was saying; it is the reason that Jesus taught the large crowds of people by Parables.

Whenever a genuine believer in Jesus who has sincerely turned from their sins and has determined to trust in Him for the rest of their life for salvation, tells an unbeliever a truth that is revealed in the Bible, these persons who are outside of any real desire to know God, are prohibited from understanding anything in the Bible, past the basic facts of salvation.

I have seen this thousands of times in my personal conversations with atheists. I tell them what the Bible is saying, and they cannot see it. The atheists and unbeliever does not have the capacity to understand the Bible. This is what Jesus is teaching in Matthew 13:

“Jesus disciples came and asked him, “Why do you use parables when you talk to the people?” He replied, “You are permitted to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven, but others are not. To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given, and they will have an abundance of knowledge. But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them. That is why I use these parables,

(Jesus cites Jeremiah 5:21) “For they look, but they don’t really see. They hear, but they don’t really listen or understand.”

(Jesus cites Isaiah 6:9-10) “This fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah that says, ‘When you hear what I say, you will not understand. When you see what I do, you will not comprehend. For the hearts of these people are hardened, and their ears cannot hear, and they have closed their eyes—so their eyes cannot see, and their ears cannot hear, and their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to me and let me heal them.’

“But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear.” ~Matthew 13:10-16

Jesus said that atheists and unbelievers are “not permitted to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven.” When a person determines to deny the truthful reality that God exists, God hides any further revelation of Himself from these persons.

Notice the language that Jesus uses to describe these persons: “those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them.”

I cited these texts the a man who has a PhD in biblical studies and is a professor at a notable seminary,  James McGrath, but he told me that I didn’t know what I was talking about, Jesus was not saying that He prohibits some people from understanding.

This was a strange answer from a man who has achieved an academic title as a biblical scholar. The problem for McGrath is that he is also known as a Progressive Christian, who denies certain parts of the Bible. This is a form of Christianity that many people who desire same-sex relationships, gravitate towards, because the Progressive Christian Churches accept same-sex persons.

I found the exact same result with Yale Divinity Professor, Joel Baden. Although Baden has achieved an academic credential as a Phd, he does not believe God exists, or that the texts of the Pentateuch are the word of God, recorded by Moses.

The same conclusions are made by another academic Phd, Josh Bowen, who said he is gay, and does not believe God exists, not that the Bible is the word of God.

You will find these same facts in a majority of persons who claim to be scholars with Phd degrees in some form of biblical studies, yet do not believe that God exists in the first place.

How Can A Person Achieve A Phd In Biblical Studies, But Remain An Atheist?

This was the point that Jesus was making to His disciples in Matthew chapter 13: A Phd, gaining an education in the Bible, writing boos, and being a college professor, does not convey the ability to know the Bible.

Jesus said that God only gives genuine knowledge of His word, to those who have repented from all their sins, and fully trust in Him for their salvation. Jesus said that the only true believer whom God gives the secrets to the Kingdom of Heaven to, are those who are “born again,” by the Spirit of God, as Jesus described in John 3:3:

 “Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.” ~John 3:3

Jesus said the the experience of being born a second time by the Spirit of God, only happens to those who first repent from all their sins:

At the beginning of His ministry, Jesus began to preach, “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.” ~Matthew 4:17

 “I tell you again that unless you repent, you will perish, too.” ~Luke 13:5

Jesus said that on the day of judgement, many people will claim to be Christians, and that they believed in Him.  Jesus will tell these people that they never were born again by the Spirit, because they continued in their same sins, a clear sign that their claim to belong to Him, was not true:

“On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ 23 But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’” ~Matthew 7:22-23

These persons claimed that they were Christian, but Jesus said that they continued to “break God’s laws.”

The Progressive Christian Movement says that a person can remain in a same-sex relationship and be a Christian. Jesus said “no, you must repent” first, end these relationships. Some churches who claim to be Christian, tell their members that God doesn’t care if you live in a sexual relationship with another person, but Jesus said, “no, you must repent” and end these relationships.”

All sin is the same to God, it must be ceased, if we will receive forgiveness for our sins. After we are saved we will still make mistakes and sin, but if we repent and turn from those sins, there is forgiveness for all of our life and eternal life.

If we persist in our sins and will not turn from them. God will not accept our request for forgiveness from all sins, and we will not be born again.

Some people claim that Jesus never said anything about same-sex persons, but He did. When Jesus said that we must all repent or we will all be lost, this meant all sins. If we think that same-sex persons are not included in the list of sins to repent from, we should understand that in Genesis 19:24, It was Jesus, the “Lord,” who brought fire down from heaven” and destroyed all the men of Sodom and Gomorrah for their sexual sin.

The term, “Lord,” in the Old Testament (Yahweh), is recognized in the Koine-Greek texts of the New Testament, as being Jesus, by the usage of “Lord,” (kurios). There are 6,800 places in the New Testament where kurios is used to describe Jesus as Yahweh from the Old Testament.

It was Jesus who destroyed the men of Sodom and Gomorrah for their same-sex sin.

Peter and Jude both commented on this events and described the sin of the men in Sodom and Gomorrah as: “ungodly, shameful immorality, wicked people, wickedness, twisted sexual desire, immorality and every kind of sexual perversion, warranting, the eternal fire of God’s judgment.”

2 Peter 2:6-10: “Later, God condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and turned them into heaps of ashes. He made them an example of what will happen to ungodly people. 7 But God also rescued Lot out of Sodom because he was a righteous man who was sick of the shameful immorality of the wicked people around him. 8 Yes, Lot was a righteous man who was tormented in his soul by the wickedness he saw and heard day after day. 9 So you see, the Lord knows how to rescue godly people from their trials, even while keeping the wicked under punishment until the day of final judgment. 10 He is especially hard on those who follow their own twisted sexual desire, and who despise authority.”

Jude 1:7: “And don’t forget Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring towns, which were filled with immorality and every kind of sexual perversion. Those cities were destroyed by fire and serve as a warning of the eternal fire of God’s judgment.

The Point Of This Is That Many Modern Biblical  PhD’s Have Never Been Born Again

Only those who turn from theirs sins completely, and sincerely determine to trust Jesus for their salvation, for the rest of their life, are born again by the Spirit. Only these persons are given the capacity to understand the “secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven,” the texts of the Bible which reveal who God is, and what His word in its depth, means.

• The Mystery Of Salvation: Who Will Be Saved; Who Will Be Lost?
• Who Is Qualified To Be A Biblical Scholar?
• Evidence That Jesus Is Yahweh/Elohim
• Evidence That Jesus Claimed To Be God

Categories: Robert Clifton Robinson