THE PRICE OF THE BRIDE (Part I)
March 10, 2009
by Melissa Kohnen – New Castle, PA Age: 20
Matthew 13:34 “All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake He not unto them:”
Mark 4:2 “And He taught them many things by parables, and said unto them in His doctrine,”
In Matthew 13:34 it says that Jesus only spoke in parables and without a parable He did not speak. In Mark 4:2 it says that Jesus taught them in parables and this was His doctrine. Let’s look at the word parable in the Greek. The word parable as the defined in the Greek Strong’s dictionary is (G3850;parabole) a similitude, parable, comparison, proverb. In the Thayer’s dictionary it means: an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. So these parables were comparisons of earthly things that had heavenly or spiritual meanings to them.
Mark 4:9-12 9 “And He said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. 10 And when He was alone, they that were about Him with the twelve asked of Him the parable. 11 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 things are done in parables: 12 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 sins should be forgiven them.”
-The disciples are asking Jesus why He speaks to the people in parables. Jesus replies to His disciples saying, “that seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand;” So these people can see and hear but they cannot perceive and understand what is being spoken; they are hearing the earthly story, but they do not understand or perceive the heavenly or spiritual aspect of what is being said. Why? Because Jesus tells His disciples that it has been given to them to know the MYSTERIES of the kingdom of God but to the others it had not been given. So these parables that Jesus is speaking forth are the mysteries of the kingdom of God. Why were the disciples able to understand these mysteries? Because they were paying a price, they left everything to follow Jesus and they were with Him everyday learning His ways and following Him.
-As a side note, a disciple is actually a disciplined follower of Christ; one who seeks to learn the ways of Christ. So as we seek after and follow Christ’s example we are actually becoming His disciples.
John 8:31 “Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on Him, If ye continue in my word, are ye my disciples indeed;”
Romans 16:25-26 25 “Now to him that is of power to establish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, 26 But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all the nations for the obedience of faith:”
- In Romans 16:25 Paul says that the gospel he preaches is the gospel of Jesus Christ; but this gospel is according to the revelation of the mystery! Now when I first read this I was wondering why Paul referred to the Gospel as “My Gospel”. We just saw that when Jesus spoke or taught the people He spoke in parables which are the mysteries. Paul says that his gospel is the revelation of the mysteries, so he is teaching the same thing that Jesus taught! Here is why Paul refers to it as “My gospel”. I think we can all agree that there is only one God, one Jesus, and one Holy Spirit, so why are there so many different denominations? I’m not talking about Buddhists and Muslims either; I’m talking about Methodists, Presbyterians, Catholics, Baptists, etc. They all claim and say they preach the gospel of Jesus; but the fact is if they were teaching the Gospel of Jesus they would be teaching what Jesus taught, what Paul was teaching, the revelation of the mysteries! During Jesus’ ministry as well as the ministry of His disciples, people were being healed, delivered, and set free from diseases, demons, and infirmities! If the true gospel of Jesus Christ is being taught people should still be getting healed, delivered and set free!
Luke 9:1-2 “Then He called His twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases.2 And He sent them to preach the Kingdom of God, and to heal the sick.”
Luke 9:6 “And they departed, and went through the towns, preaching the gospel, and healing every where.”
Mark 16:17-18 “And these signs shall follow them that believe; In MY NAME shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.”
- In Luke 9:1 it says that Jesus called His disciples, or disciplined followers, together and He gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure disease! Then He sent them to preach the Kingdom of God, but we just saw that they were teaching (preaching) the revelation of the mysteries, which would mean that the Kingdom of God is the revelation of the mysteries. So as you can see from the scriptures above; the true followers of Christ were given the same power and authority as Jesus. And if you look at Mark 16:17-18 you can see that Jesus is clear on who the true believers are! He says that these signs will follow those that believe, in My name they will heal the sick, cast out devils, speak in new tongues. The reason I have “My Name” in bold is because in the Hebrew thought a name is actually the character of a person. So when Jesus says in My Name, He is actually saying those that are becoming like Him. Those that have become compassionate, forgiving, peaceful, faithful, trustworthy, humble, meek, kind, generous, passionate, wise and understanding, those that are containers of His Holy Spirit. I know a lot of people who say that they believe in Jesus, but there is no power or life in what they speak and they don’t even have power and authority for healing in their own lives let alone anyone else’s lives. According to scripture those that carry the Spirit of God will also carry that power and authority. This is a process though! The disciples spent a lot of time with Jesus, learning His ways, and maturing in their faith; they became friends of Jesus. During this time they were also being tested and tried so they could be proven faithful. While Salvation, which is Jesus is freely given by God, there is a price that we as individuals have to pay, this price is to be tested and tried and proven to be faithful, the same price the disciples had to pay when they walked with Jesus.
Continued in The Price Of The Bride (Part II)…