Why did Jesus speak in parables?! I wrote this study because more and more im discovering that many Christians have the complete wrong understanding as to why Jesus spoke in parables. When I ask Christians why He spoke in parables, the most common answer I get is along these lines: “he spoke in parables so that people could understand and relate to his stories better”. This answer is in fact the OPPOSITE of why Jesus spoke in parables, so I hope whoever reads this will be blessed to see the power of why the Son of God spoke in parables. Ill start with the two biggest points of this study, which are firstly, believe it or not, he spoke in parables so that people WOULDNT understand!!! And secondly, if Jesus didn’t speak in parables, then you and I, and indeed all the gentiles, would not have been saved!!! This is pretty big time stuff, but the proof of this is in what Jesus Himself taught: Mat 13 10 And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? 11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. -- but to them it is not given!!-- 12 For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. 13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. so, there you have it, Jesus spoke to them in parables, because HE DID NOT GIVE THEM THE MYSTERIES OF THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN! As He says, He only gave the mysteries (aka the explanation of the parables) to the 12 apostles 10 And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? 11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given... v13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: So that’s the first point proven, Jesus spoke in parables so that people WOULDNT understand! Then next thing you are surely wondering, is why would Jesus want to keep them OUT of the understanding??? (and if you aren’t wondering that, then why aren’t you? lol) As i said back at the start, if He didn’t speak in parables, the gentiles (including you and me) woudln’t have been saved, so now show you why that is: First of all, back to that Matthew 13 14 And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: 15 For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and So the Jews (especially the Pharisees) heard Jesus words (aka his parables) but didn’t understand them, because they had basically fallen away, and in them Isaiah’s prophecies were fulfilled as you just read read. Now believe it or not, the bible actually says that if the baddies had understood that Jesus was the Son of God they would NOT have killed him! And if they never killed Him, He never would have died for our sins, and we would still be destined for the lake of fire 1 Corinthians 2 7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: 8 Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. v 7 - showing that Christ being the Son of God / The Messiah was a mystery to the Jews, and Had they known it, they (the princes of this world- aka the Pharisees) would not have killed Him. But fortunately, the Jews had hard hearts, stiff necks, and they did not understand Jesus parables, therefore they thought he was a blasphemer, so they decided to kill him (i.e. they accused him of blasphemy) and in doing so, they helped fulfill the prophecies that Jesus would die at the hands of sinful men, but in doing so, He would give his life for the sins of many. But so far, the gentiles are still in need of salvation, but this is how we come into the picture... Acts 13:46 Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. --you judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles...-- Remember Jesus was not sent but unto the "lost sheep of the house Israel" (Matt 15:24) but afterwards He sent out the Apostles, even to the gentiles, and specifically for us gentiles, He raised up Paul the apostle. So after time and time again of the Jews rejecting and persecuting the apostles for preaching the message of Jesus as being the only way to heaven by faith (in contrast to keeping the law as the way of being saved), the Jews reject God once and for all and hence Paul turned to the gentiles, to preach Christ as the way of salvation for ANYONE who believes -- not just Jews but also gentiles -- (Romans 1:16). So do you see now WHY Jesus had to speak in parables and how it ties in with salvation leaving the Jews and coming to the gentiles?!?! More confirmation is found in: Romans 11 11 I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. 17 And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, 18 do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you. 19 You will say then, “Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.” 20 Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. 22 Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness So here we have the BIG picture, Jesus spoke in parables, the Jews didnt understand, thus they thought he was a heretic and therefore killed Jesus, rejected His gospel and therefore salvation came to the gentiles (but why?) as it says: to provoke the Jews to jealousy!! (Rom 11:11) so that they too make be saved, when the remnant of the Jews finally believes the gospel. Romans 11 25 For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. So I hope you guys can see the power of this – it IS the Mystery of GOD!! i.e. The grand scheme of how salvation would go from the Jews to the gentiles - truly amazing stuff! Col 1:26 Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: Col 1:27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: His grand scheme was for the gentiles to be saved and to know Christ as their saviour That’s pretty much the end of the study, but I put some confirmation verses below, which is just some of the many many ingredients which go together to tell the above story: Romans 10 19 But I say, did Israel not know? First Moses says: “ I will provoke you to jealousy by those who are not a nation, I will move you to anger by a foolish nation.” 20 But Isaiah is very bold and says: “ I was found by those who did not seek Me; I was made manifest to those who did not ask for Me.” 21 But to Israel he says: “ All day long I have stretched out My hands To a disobedient and contrary people.”[n] So those verses are just showing what we were talking about. In fact, it was first prophesied that Jesus was speak in parables, in the book of psalms Psalms 78 1 Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth. 2 I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old: Mat 13:35 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world. Bless you for taking the time to read this study Phil =) valuecard2@hotmail.com

Well, I gave it a chance. And it still has such sweeping generalizations that it can lead to far more dangerous doctrines and philosophies. Look, you can't just make the statement of how "the Jews" rejected Jesus. It's not true, and it corrupts the message, and turns those of the house of G-d against one another. Virtually EVERY character in the Gospels, was in fact, Jewish. The only notable exceptions are Pilate and his wife. Even Herod was a Jew. The hundreds or thousands following Him around? Jews. The 12 studying under Him? Jews. >7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: 8 Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. Here's the problem with putting the words of men on the same level as the Word of the Living God. That's a nice theory except that it wasn't "the princes of this world" who convicted Him. It was a mob screaming to keep Him and release Barrabas. Yes, they were Jews, too, and so were the voicecs screaming FOR His release, and all those who mourned Him. It's a story of a Jewish king in a Jewish land. The story is full of Jews on both sides. This carries no weight until you cut the generalizations out of it. No offense.