Presently, I am involved in a study of Jesus’ parables, as they pertain to the last days. We need to keep in mind that the scriptures say that God spoke to mankind at various times and through a great many different people, both small and great. However, in the last days he sent Jesus (Hebrews 1:1-2), and through Jesus, the Son of God, the word of God has come to us. One of the very first things Jesus made clear to us is that his words could be understood only by those who have ears to hear (Matthew 13:9). This doesn’t mean that the word of God is hidden, but it does tell us that Jesus doesn’t intend to disturb the spiritual blindness that men impose upon themselves by rejecting Jesus, in order to embrace what they’ve always been taught by folks with a diploma (viz. Matthew 12:23-24).
In Jesus’ very first parable he spoke of the sower who sowed the word of God in the hearts of men (Matthew 13:19). However, for various reasons, such as not being religiously inclined, or because of riches and position in society or due to persecution and intimidation, the word bears no fruit in such people (Matthew 13:19-22). These are they of whom Isaiah spoke (Isaiah 6:8-11), who simply will not respond to the truth. They are spiritually blind by choice. God simply doesn’t seek to disturb that blindness by working in their lives to cause them to reconsider. They have the Gospel preached to them, and God calls them to repentance in this manner, but, unless they make a conscious and serious commitment to consider the Gospel, they will remain blind, through the choice they had already made in the past, and take the consequences of that choice when judgment comes.
On the other hand, Jesus told his disciples that it was given to them to understand the word of God (Matthew 13:11). Not only so, but he tells them that they are truly blessed, because there were many prophets and righteous men of the Old Testament who longed to see what the Apostles saw and hear what they heard but it wasn’t possible during their day:
But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear. For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them. (Matthew 13:16-17; emphasis mine)
We need to pause at this point and consider Jesus’ words. The elect or the righteous remnant in the Old Testament preached the word of God, but they didn’t understand under what conditions the content of their preaching would prove true. They studied the scriptures and the words given them, strongly desiring to understand the kind of salvation that the Spirit of Christ in them signified, because it was told them that their words were for another generation, not their own (1Peter 1:10-12). Now, if the Old Testament writers desired to see what Jesus’ disciples saw, and to hear what they heard, then this tells us that everything they preached was to be fulfilled in the days or generation of the Apostles and disciples of Jesus (cf. 1Peter 4:7). In other words, Jesus’ disciples were seeing the very things the prophets preached, but clarified and unveiled in their very presence.
In support of this understanding, Jesus tells us in Luke 16:16 that the Law and the Prophets (i.e. the Old Testament) were until John, but since John the Kingdom of God has been preached, saying, “the time has been fulfilled (Mark 1:14-15). It would be difficult to overemphasize that motif, meaning the time of the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets had arrived. Nevertheless, this motif or theme had been rejected, not only by first century Jewish scholars (2Peter 3:1-4), but it has been rejected by many modern day scholars, as well. Consider for a moment, if Peter had been preaching for the appearing of Christ to come 2000 years into the future, what argument would the scoffers have had in 2Peter 3:4? The very fact that folks mocked Peter, asking where was the promise of Jesus coming, is proof positive that Peter preached Jesus would arrive in that very generation in the first century AD.
From the very beginning Peter preached they were in the last days in the first century AD, and that all things would be fulfilled in their expected lifetimes (Acts 2:16-17). He claimed that Jesus was at that time in heaven but would return at the restoration of the true theocracy (Acts 3:21; viz. 1Samuel 8:4-7),[1] and all of the prophets from Samuel onward told of those days in which Peter preached (Acts 3:24), so say the scriptures.
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[1] Thayer’s Greek Lexicon defines “restitution of all things”.
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