‘When Will They Get It?’
How do you like to learn? Learning how to learn in my opinion, is one of the most important skills someone can acquire. It all comes down to memory. How can I 'remember' this in order to gain knowledge of it and process it in the future when needed? A basic form of learning is repetition. Doing, saying or hearing repeatedly can acquire knowledge as does 'participation', performing certain acts to retain information. Educators label these methods as 'visual', (you learn by seeing), auditory, (you learn by hearing), and 'kinesthetic' (you learn by doing).
Bottom line, there are lots of ways to learn, especially within the categories of hearing, seeing and doing. You can learn using all three way, but most of us have a preferred method. What is yours? Mine is visual. I love to read, watch and learn.
At the time of Jesus and during Old Testament times, not many people could read, but they could obviously see and hear. So many of the letters and books of the bible were read aloud to a church or audience of listeners. But even better, God would 'show' them things. Things such as fulfilled prophecy, powerfully rescuing them from enemies or danger, and even mighty miracles on some occasions such as the exodus from Egypt. Then you have the parting of the Red Sea, and in the New Testament, the numerous miracles of Jesus and the Apostles.
However, despite seeing, hearing and watching God at work, many still didn't get it. They were blind and deaf despite having eyes and ears. In Isaiah 6:9-10 we read...
"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."
And in Mark 4:12, Jesus alludes to the above Isaiah text regarding the purpose of parables and their inability to be understood by some:
11 And He was saying to them, "To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but those who are outside get everything in parables, 12 so that WHILE SEEING, THEY MAY SEE AND NOT PERCEIVE, AND WHILE HEARING, THEY MAY HEAR AND NOT UNDERSTAND, OTHERWISE THEY MIGHT RETURN AND BE FORGIVEN."
In other words, humans, despite having all their learning faculties in place, have a difficult time understanding the things of God. We're not too different today. Even when the Lord speaks to us through His Word (hearing) and shows us through His actions and promises fulfilled (seeing), and even the process of 'doing', oftentimes doesn’t convince. These ways didn't convince many of the Jews, even with with 613 commandments to follow.
One of the most well known parable of all times is that of the Good Shepherd in John chapter 10. It's often used in a devotional context, which is certainly can be, but the main message of the parable is that yet again, the Jews are getting it - Jesus is the Shepherd who is literally spoken of all over the Old Testament scriptures (Ezekiel 34, Jeremiah 23, Zechariah 13, Psalm 23, and many more) as God Himself, the returning King.
They didn't understand that Jesus was saying He is the Great I AM (using that expression 3 times in this passage alone) and the works He was doing prove it. But they were too blind to see, too deaf to hear and were unable to connect the dots that Jesus is God Himself. What about you? Are you getting the full impact of what this means? If not, it’s okay, the Apostle John comes through again in verses 7-21.
In the first 6 verses, John has Jesus laying it all out, then spending the rest of the chapter showing how Jesus explains it all to them - and many of then still didn't get it. They couldn't hear His voice. They couldn't see what was happening. The learning opportunities were there, but their learning faculties refused to absorb the truth.
We'll examine the crux of Jesus' explanation in verses 7 through 21. John's intent in these verses is to get us to see, hear and experience Jesus as the Good Shepherd of Israel. When we learn and accept the full force of what Jesus says in these verses, abundant life is the result.
For me, this chapter in John is one of the most exciting. Even though, page after page, like a song you just never get sick of, John plays the tune of Jesus being Israel's God and the Savior King of the world. I never get sick of hearing it, especially in the way John presents it so consistently, yet so differently each time. Praise the Lord for His holy Word!
Click below to listen to this sermon on John 10:7-21
