The Mystery of the Kingdom
In Ephesians 5, in the context of his teaching about marriage oneness, Paul wrote, “This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.”
In First Corinthians 15, he wrote, “Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.”
Then in Second Thessalonians 2:7, in the context of the second coming of Christ, Paul wrote,“For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way.”
In Ephesians, Paul says the marriage relationship and our union with Christ IS a great mystery. Can you fully explain how the marriage relationship mirrors Christ’s relationship with the Church? I didn’t think so. Then, in Thessalonians, he says the mystery of lawlessness IS already working. Again, the spirit of the antichrist is working in our world, but we don’t fully understand how it will manifest itself just before the coming of Christ.
However, in First Corinthians 15, Paul informs us that he is SHOWING us (literally, telling us) a mystery. In other words, he is revealing something that wasn’t known before. That’s the biblical definition of a mystery; it’s the revelation of what was previously unknown.
In Mark 4:11, Jesus said to His disciples, “To you, it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to those who are outside, all things come in parables…”
The portion of Scripture for our study this time follows immediately after the parable of the soils and is directly related to it. I’ve titled my teaching, “The Mystery of the Kingdom,” and our text is Mark 4:21 to 34. So, listen carefully as I read this text and see if you can pick out the steps that reveal to us the mystery of the kingdom.
In this text, we observe the several STEPS that reveal to us the mystery of the kingdom.
Before we get into our study, I point out to you Jesus’ emphasis on hearing! In verse 9 of this chapter, He says, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” Then, in verse 23, He says, “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” And verse 24, “Take heed what you hear.” Let’s keep this emphasis in mind as we work our way through this text.
The First STEP (that reveals the mystery of the kingdom) is,
Its Proclamation
Jesus continues directly from “the parable of the soils” into additional teaching about the kingdom of God. He moves from the field to the house and uses a common item to illustrate His teaching – a lamp.
Every household in Jesus’ day had these small clay lamps. A small lump of clay was formed into a shallow bowl that would hold a couple of teaspoons of oil, and then one side was pinched into a crude spout. A wick was laid in that little bowl of oil and out over the spout. After the wick was saturated, you lit the exposed end, and there was your lamp. In the house, these were usually placed on a small shelf or a stone that was left protruding from the wall for that purpose.
Interestingly, Mark invests the lamp with motion. He ask...
