2Th 2:1-12; You Are Equipped to Hear and See the Lord’s Secrets of Knowledge and Wisdom.
length: 58:40 - taught on Sep, 21 2023
Class Outline:
Thursday September 21, 2023
Theme: Everyone hears the truth, but without seeking Christ, it is impossible to understand.
For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; 9 that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, 10 and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. 11 For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, 12 in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.
This week we attempted to focus on 2 things:
1. What is deception and what does the Bible tell us about it?
2. Why does God send a strong delusion to those already deceived, and does He only do so during the Tribulation period or at other times as well?
The context of Isa 29 is the prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem.
Be delayed and wait,
Blind yourselves and be blind;
They become drunk, but not with wine,
They stagger, but not with strong drink.
What are they drunk with?
For the Lord has poured over you a spirit of deep sleep,
He has shut your eyes, the prophets;
And He has covered your heads, the seers.
That it is a spirit of sleep intensifies - He shuts your eyes; He covers your head. The prophets and the seers are blind and the people from deceitfulness.
The entire vision will be to you like the words of a sealed book, which when they give it to the one who is literate, saying, "Please read this," he will say, "I cannot, for it is sealed." 12 Then the book will be given to the one who is illiterate, saying, "Please read this." And he will say, "I cannot read."
Isaiah’s initial message from the Lord that he was to deliver.
Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?" Then I said, "Here am I. Send me!" 9 He said, "Go, and tell this people:
'Keep on listening, but do not perceive;
Keep on looking, but do not understand.'
10 "Render the hearts of this people insensitive,
Their ears dull,
And their eyes dim,
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
Hear with their ears,
Understand with their hearts,
And return and be healed."
Jesus quotes ISA 6:8-10 in reference to the reason He spoke in parables.
And the disciples came and said to Him, "Why do You speak to them in parables?" 11 Jesus answered them, "To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. 12 "For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. 13 "Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 14 "In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says,
'YOU WILL KEEP ON HEARING, BUT WILL NOT UNDERSTAND;
YOU WILL KEEP ON SEEING, BUT WILL NOT PERCEIVE;
15 FOR THE HEART OF THIS PEOPLE HAS BECOME DULL,
WITH THEIR EARS THEY SCARCELY HEAR,
AND THEY HAVE CLOSED THEIR EYES,
OTHERWISE THEY WOULD SEE WITH THEIR EYES,
HEAR WITH THEIR EARS,
AND UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR HEART AND RETURN,
AND I WOULD HEAL THEM.'
16 "But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. 17 "For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.
Some see and hear and some do not.
To them it has not been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.
He spoke the initial five of these parables to the general public.
That day Jesus went out of the house and was sitting by the sea. 2 And large crowds gathered to Him, so He got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd was standing on the beach.
3 And He spoke many things to them in parables, saying, "Behold, the sower went out to sow;
In Mark He speaks parables to the general public and teaches in an exposition manner to the disciples in private.
He spoke to final three (or four?) in private to His disciples.
Then He left the crowds and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him and said, "Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field."
A believer studying the word of God sits in private with Jesus, and by the Holy Spirit, gets expository teaching from the Lord.
With many such parables He was speaking the word to them, so far as they were able to hear it; 34 and He did not speak to them without a parable; but He was explaining everything privately to His own disciples.
The difference between the deceived and the knowing is proximity and humility to Christ.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;
Fools despise wisdom and instruction.
A scoffer seeks wisdom and finds none,
But knowledge is easy to one who has understanding.
a true knowledge of God's mystery, that is, Christ Himself, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Without Christ and subsequent fellowship with Him in His Word (by the HS) the treasure stores of wisdom and knowledge will remain unfound.
Delusion was not the sole purpose of the parables. They were spoken to the disciples as well, but because they sought to know and followed the One who did know, they received the explanation.
In this context, we can see that the parables serve the purpose of discriminating among those who heard Jesus. The stories do not create sin in the heart of otherwise innocent people. Rather, when addressed to those who have set themselves against the Lord, the parables become instruments of judgment whereby …
And He was saying to them, "A lamp is not brought to be put under a basket, is it, or under a bed? Is it not brought to be put on the lampstand? 22 "For nothing is hidden, except to be revealed; nor has anything been secret, but that it would come to light. 23 "If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear." 24 And He was saying to them, "Take care what you listen to. By your standard of measure it will be measured to you; and more will be given you besides. 25 "For whoever has, to him more shall be given; and whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him."
The meaning of the parable will come to light. They could discover it then or wait until judgment, when life is at and end and it is too late to do anything about your error.
He says, If you have ears - hear. He is entreating them to listen. How do you get ears?
Then, “Take care what you listen to.” Does He mean certain movies (to make it modern) or music? In light of parables, He is telling them to be careful what they believe.
“By your standard of measure …” What are you measuring? What you are listening to? They hear that Jesus gets His power from Satan. How does any one of them measure that statement that they hear? If their measurement is “valid” then they placed worthiness in a great deception and “more will be given you besides.”
For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, 12 in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.
Lest we remain in the negative, what if the opposite is true of the hearer, in other words, you are a disciple of Christ. The same applies in the opposite way - you will get more wisdom of Christ.
"For whoever has, to him more shall be given; and whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him."
What will be taken away? People are not initially as completely deceived as they can be.
Take Matthew’s text to see what can be lost.
Jesus healed a man’s hand on the Sabbath. The Pharisees conspired on how they might destroy Him.
But Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. Many followed Him, and He healed them all, 16 and warned them not to tell who He was.
Then Matthew quotes Isaiah’s first Servant song. He would not cry out.
All the crowds were amazed, and were saying, "This man cannot be the Son of David, can he?"
You can see what they have that can be taken away. The idea that this Man could in fact be the Messiah, the Son of God, Son of David, Son of Man … and then the hear …
But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, "This man casts out demons only by Beelzebul the ruler of the demons."
How will they measure this statement? The answer to that will determine if they lose what grasp of truth (even by strings) that they have or if they will gain it and from then on even more.
You have the privilege of seeing and hearing the secret wisdom and knowledge of the Lord.
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