The Challenge of the Kingdom

MEMORY SELECTION: “Blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.” —Matthew 13:16

SELECTED SCRIPTURE: Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52

IN MATTHEW the 15th chapter and the 24th verse Jesus said, “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Thus Jesus, for the three and one-half years of his ministry, restricted the Gospel message to the Jewish people, and this restriction continued for three and one-half years after his death on the cross. (Matt. 10:5,6; Dan. 9:27) This, of course, was because the promise was made to the natural seed of Abraham that from them the seed of blessing would be taken. But there was a provision, and that requirement was that the nation be faithful and bring forth fruits.

The Apostle Paul, in Romans 9:31-33, states, “But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling-stone; as it is written, Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.”

Jesus, after presenting himself to the nation of Israel and being rejected, said, “Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.” (Matt. 23:38) And so the Lord turned to the Gentiles “to take out of them a people for his name.”—Acts 15:14

The Apostle Paul, in Romans 11:8, quoted the Prophet Isaiah, “(… God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day.” This indictment applied to the nation, but not to individual Jews. There were many Jews who liked the message of the kingdom and accepted Jesus as the promised Messiah, and it was of these particularly that Jesus said, “Blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.” (Matt. 13:16) These Jews were dealt with as individuals and, because of a right heart attitude, were called to run for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.—John 6:44; 1:11,12

The Apostle Paul expressed the matter thus, “And for this cause He is the mediator of the new testament [covenant] that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament [covenant], they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.”—Heb. 9:15

The disciples came to Jesus and asked him why he spoke to the people in parables. They apparently felt that if Jesus spoke to them with plainness of speech he would be more effective. Jesus answered them thus, “Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. … 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 should be converted, and I should heal them. … For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, … and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.”—Matt. 13:10,11,15,17

Therefore the parables of Jesus concerning the kingdom were not meant to be generally understood, but it was the way that God had designed to hide the message of the truth from all except those whom he had called.—Isa. 6:9,10

This mystery of the kingdom is still not meant to be generally understood. It is only those, both Jew and Gentile, whom the Lord calls that will be blessed with a hearing ear and are privileged to respond to the call.

The Apostle James, in Acts 15:14-18, states that God for the first time visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for his name. This, we believe, is the great work of the Gospel Age. After this he states that he will build again the tabernacle of David (or set up the kingdom arrangement), that the residue of men might seek after the Lord. It is then that the message of the kingdom will be discerned by every human being on earth, and all will be given a full opportunity to hear and obey and thereby earn the right to everlasting life.

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