THE WALL

 In the mid 1980's President Regan said "Mr. Gorbachev tear down that wall!" The Berlin wall was built to prevent the Russian people from fleeing communism to free Germany. Historically, man has built all sorts of walls even in their minds. Consequently it becomes hard for one who has walled up his or her mind to receive and understand new or different ideas. We say it is like talking to a brick wall, or we say they are hard headed, or stubborn. People just don't listen the way they should either because they do not know how to listen or their mind is considering what they themselves are going to say when the speaker quits talking or their mind is set on their own preconceived idea. I hear people talk about going to see their therapist. What does your therapist do, I ask. He just listens to me is their reply. TV has commercial after commercial to entice people to call and talk to a TV host, psychic, or the porno queen. There are literally hundreds of radio and TV talk shows where people are invited to call in and just talk and millions do all because they want someone to listen. Well, the problem is not a new one. Isaiah and the prophets had a problem when they carried God's message to the children of Israel; 

ISA 6:9 And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. 

ISA 44:18 They have not known nor understood: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand. 

JER 5:21 Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not: 

The prophets are saying, I bring you a message from God and it is like your minds have been shut so that you cannot understand what I am saying. Christ had a similar problem as he spoke to his disciples. In an effort to make his teachings more understandable he spoke to them in parables. It is common for people to think that the parables were to confuse but not so they were to make it simple. Teaching by illustration and visual aid to drive home the message, and still they didn't get it. The following verses are a perfect example.

 Mark 4:1-9 And he began again to teach by the sea side: and there was gathered unto him a great multitude, so that he entered into a ship, and sat in the sea; and the whole multitude was by the sea on the land. And he taught them many things by parables, and said unto them in his doctrine, Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow: And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up. And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth: But when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit. And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred. And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. He ends his comments with, "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear". 

Simply put, think about these things and understand what is being said. But even then his disciples said we didn't get it. So Jesus begins to explain and as a part of the explanation he uses the Greek word "musterion" translated mystery. William Barclay defines it this way. "Now this word musterion has a technical meaning; it does not mean something which is complicated or confusing. It means something which is quite unintelligible to the person who has not been initiated into its meaning, but which is perfectly plain and clear to someone who has been so initiated. In New Testament times, in the pagan world one of the great features of popular religion was what was called the Mystery Religions. These religions promised communion and union with and even identify with some god, whereby all the fear and terrors of life and death would be taken away. Now nearly all these Mystery Religions were based on the story of some god who had suffered and died and risen again; they were nearly all in the nature of passion plays. One of the more famous of them was called the Mystery of Isis. Osiris was a wise and good king. Seth, his wicked brother, hated him and alone with seventy-two conspirators persuaded him to come to a banquet. There Seth persuaded Osiris to enter into a cunningly made coffin which exactly fitted him. When he was inside the coffin the lid was snapped down and the coffin was cast into the Nile. Isis, Osiris faithful wife, after a long and weary search, found the coffin and brought it home in mourning. When she was absent the wicked Seth came again, stole the body, cut it into fourteen pieces and scattered them throughout all Egypt. Once again Isis set out on her sad and weary search. In the end she discovers all the pieces and by her magical powers puts them together and restored Osiris to life again; and from that day forward he became the immortal king of the living and the dead. Now what happened was this. The candidate underwent a long preparation of purification and fasting and of asceticism and of instruction as to the inner meaning of the story. Then the dramatic story with its grief and its sorrow and its resurrection and its triumphal ending was played out as a passion play. Music and incense and lighting and a splendid liturgy were all used to enhance the emotional atmosphere. As the play was played out the worshipper felt himself one with the god both in his suffering and in his triumph. The worshipper passed through death to immortality by union with the god. Now the point is that to an uninitiated person the whole thing would have been meaningless; but to the initiated the thing was full of meaning which he had been taught to see. That is the technical meaning of the Greek word musterion. When the New Testament talks of the Mystery of the Kingdom, it does not mean that the Kingdom is remote and abstruse and recondite and hard to understand; but it does mean that it is quite unintelligible to the person who has not given his heart to Jesus, and that only the person who has taken Jesus as Master and Lord can understand what the Kingdom of God means.

" Mark 4:10-25 "And when he was alone, they that were about him with the twelve asked of him the parable. And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables: That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them. And he said unto them, Know ye not this parable? and how then will ye know all parables? The sower soweth the word. And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts. And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness; And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word's sake, immediately they are offended. And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word, And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful. And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred. And he said unto them, Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed? and not to be set on a candlestick? For there is nothing hid, which shall not be manifested; neither was any thing kept secret, but that it should come abroad. If any man have ears to hear, let him hear. And he said unto them, Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given. For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath." "Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God". 

Christ, in effect was saying you have been initiated into spiritual things and therefore you are or should be tuned in to what I am saying. The problem with the disciples was the same problem as we have to day. We don't get the priorities in order and then we do not listen or follow the priorities. Christ says first you must be enlightened. 

John 1:4-5 "In him was life; and the life was the light of men. and the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. 

The words translated as `comprehended not' means "laid not hold of it." Comprehend is defined as "to grasp the nature, significance or meaning of". You have to become spiritual minded first. In the New testament it is referred to as the new birth because when Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden, man was separated from the tree of life as part of the punishment. When God created man He also created a place for him to live (the Garden of Eden) heaven on earth. God made man and gave him a soul. The soul includes the inner man-the thinking, feeling, emotional part of man that is capable of reasoning and expression. God and man would fellowship together there in the garden. God also placed in the garden everything man needed as well as the tree of knowledge and the tree of life. Now God never told man not to eat the fruit of the tree of life but he did tell him not to eat the tree of knowledge. For the tree of knowledge brought about death physical and spiritual. The physical man will die but the spiritual man will live on, either in the presents of God or separated from God. Man must atone for the sin of Adam and for the sins of himself by offering atonement (an acceptable blood sacrifice) for mans disobedience To be in the presents of God. God gave Adam and Eve coats of skin indicating something had to be killed to make the coats. Adam and Eve's fellowship with God was restored but they were now outside the garden and could not go back in to eat of the tree of life. So here is the picture - because of Adam, man is separated from God physically and spiritually. But, because Jesus Christ went to the cross and became the atonement for Adam's disobedience it became possible for all mankind to have fellowship with God through accepting by faith that Christ has paid the price (became the acceptable atonement) not only for the sentence passed on to all men from Adam but also the acts of disobedience that I have and will commit. Christ has removed THE WALL that would prevent me access to the freedom of the Kingdom of God now and the Kingdom of Heaven when my physical life on earth ends. I can spiritually walk with God in the cool of the day in the Garden of Eden experiencing the peace and joy that was enjoyed by Adam knowing that God has provided for me everything I need in life. 

REV 2:7 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. REV 22:2 In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. REV 22:14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. I have access to all the promises God has given to man and all I have to do is claim those promises and accept them by faith. 

"Unto you is given to know the Mystery of the Kingdom of God." You and I can live in perfect harmony and fellowship with God by faith. You and I can enjoy the blessings and fellowship that Adam enjoyed before his disobedience. So Christ explains the meaning of the parable to the disciples, and then states a warning. I probably should use the term "natural law" as it is true with almost anything. Once you have received spiritual gifts and enlightenment you must use it or you will lose it. That is true with singing or playing sports, or typing or just about anything you can think of. Use your skills and talents or lose them. The same is true with the Christian life. When you light a candle you don't cover it up with a basket. No, you use it. You put it on a candle stick to light the room. Spiritually speaking you use your gifts and talents to bring joy, happiness, peace, love, etc. etc. to the world around you. Your light should so shine that others will see Jesus Christ living in everything you do. 

II CORINTHIANS 4:4 In whom the god of this world (Satan) hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. 

GEN 2:8 And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. 

GEN 2:9 And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. 

GEN 2:15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

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