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For most believers, we believe by faith and not by sight just as the scriptures urge us to and that the words written down in the Holy Bible were God breathed through man (prophets and disciples) and chosen by God.
So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary,
but what is unseen is eternal.
2 Corinthians 4:18. NIV.
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However, as most of us are aware most of the population have decided to believe in evolution rather than the Holy Bible.
For the majority of the population we find for people to have faith in a book written 1000's of years ago by people they have never seen or known is by their own admission not sufficient evidence for them to believe. This can be a fair comment at face value.
If people cannot obtain faith in God by having faith in a book alone then they remain an unbeliever. As we can see, this is the case for most of the world.
Why change your life over a book?
So why should believers have faith in a book written by someone we have never seen?
I believe this is also a fair comment.
However many have the God given ability to believe in the Bible alone. I did not but I believed by the nature of the birds and the bees, the trees and the seas which led me to opening the Bible and taking the next step in believing. Then, seeking further and discovering the treasures of Bible archaeology was enough to bring me on my hands and knees to Jesus in repentance.
Seek and you will find said Jesus. Matthew 7:7.
 The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser, 825 BC, now at the British Museum is a significant Biblical artefact, because one of the panels depicts the Biblical Jehu, king of Israel. Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet. 1 Kings 19:16.
I admit and confess, I was truly trapped in sin and needed more than just a book to get me out of it.
But still, we as believers today, have never seen with our own eyes the miracles we read and would so love to see. Yet we still believe what we read despite the fact that millions still deny the existence of God, look to philosophy or science for answers.
Are believers mad to believe in such stories as Samson the Israelite hero who had supernatural strength granted by God resulting in him wrestling a lion, slaying an entire army with only a jawbone of a donkey and destroying a blasphemous temple?
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| Samson destroys the temple of Dagon, 1890 Bible illustration |
What about Noah's Ark. We read one of the most famousbiblical stories from ancient days a boat commissioned by God and sailed by man surviving the greatest storm in human history. Built with one purpose in mind - to save the human race!!
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| Noah's Ark (1846), a painting by the American folk painter Edward Hicks |
It certainly requires faith to believe in stories such as the man Moses whom God used to perform the 10 plagues of Egypt.
Remember, many people saw with their own eyes the greatest miracles performed by Gods own hand as he divided the Red Sea.
Multitudes also witnessed the many miracles performed by Jesus himself
during his time here on the earth in human form.
John 11.
Whilst many saw still some still disbelieved. Is this why God states we must now live by faith and not by the
miracles we have not seen happen?
(For we walk by faith, not by sight:)
2 Corinthians 5:7
Whatever the case most people who are in the world today will say, unless they have seen a miracle, they will refuse to believe in a book in which they have never seen and or whose writers were from 1000's of years ago. Again I would say, fair comment.
Many have questioned and still refuse to believe in these stories mainly because they have not seen the events happen themselves and are not willing to believe in stories that they believe could be written and made up by anyone. Again I would say, fair comment.
However there are stories within the Gospels told by Mathew, Mark, Luke and John which reveal to us divine truths. These stories could not have been made up by human minds, why, because these stories never were before heard or told and had incredible secrets only God himself could reveal. These stories were called THE PARABLES OF JESUS.
When Jesus spoke in parables most of his audience could not understand what he was saying. The only way one could understand the parables of Jesus was to open their hearts to Jesus which would then allow our eyes to see and our ears to hear and even then most would have to think hard about what was Jesus saying to understand his teaching.
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When Jesus told us his parables
Even today I have spoken to many Christians asking them do they fully understand a fairly simple parable Jesus told in Matthew 13:44-46 called The Hidden Treasure.
I discovered not one Christian I talked to fully understood this incredible story. When I explain to them the whole meaning of the parable their faces light up like a light bulb with joy. Only then have they discovered another one of Jesus concealed divine secrets.
If Christians still don't fully understand the parables of Jesus today until they are fully explained then that can only prove one thing. The stories in the parables were not and could not be written and made up by man, but only by God himself, Jesus Christ.
He taught them many things by parables. Mark 4:2 NIV.
I admit even myself that I have to read and meditate over some parables for weeks sometimes to be able to understand them.
What was the purpose of Jesus talking in Parables?
And what is a good example of Jesus's parables??
In the days of the war we would use morse code. The morse code could only be understood by the person who invented it. It was invented for one reason only to send a hidden message and conceal its secrets. The only people who could understand the message was the person who wrote it and the people who were trained to understand it.
I believe this is very similar with the parables told by Jesus.
Jesus told concealed secrets from his kingdom since the beginning of the world to his audience.
So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet:
"I will open my mouth in parables,
I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.
The purpose was the people who had closed hearts would not understand his message but the people who had eyes to see and ears to hear would listen and try to understand Gods hidden secrets. Jesus wanted people like you and me to think and work them out.
This divided the people with closed hearts from the open hearts.
We see the same today even with believers. Many still do not fully understand Jesus parables because they have not truly studied them enough. However when we do, we very often jump with joy, because we have just discovered Jesus divine secrets that only God himself could know.
When we read and truly understand the parables of Jesus, we make an amazing discovery we discover the truth and that truth is, only God himself could have told them.
Let's look at a parable Jesus told in Matthew 13:44-46 called The Hidden Treasure.
"The Kingdom of Heaven
God's infinitely priceless Home.
is like treasure hidden in a field,
The field is the world. The treasure is Jesus, who raises born again believers to eternal life, which is like stumbling on a gold mine. All though the gospels are available to most, the truth about Jesus is not known by most people in the world, which is why the treasure is hidden.
Photo Copyright ©2012 iStockphoto LP.
which a man found and covered up;
The treasure was so priceless he concealed it in his heart that he may not lose it and be taken away before he told others, as most people might do if they were to discover something valuable.
then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
The man found his faith in Jesus Christ he then gave up everything materially and put his mind on loving and following Jesus above everything
A. The treasure was unknown to the owner of the field, probably meaning the owner was a lost soul.
OR
B. The landowner could be God the Father as in the parable of The Wicked Vinedressers (Matthew 21:33-46)
C. The whole world is owned by
For, "The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it."
When we own property we cannot take it with us when we die. So in essence it is leased to us, as was the land in the story of the man who owned this field.
This could explain why the man could only afford to buy the field, and not the hidden
treasure itself. We can ALL
give up everything and follow Jesus if we are willing.
But the hidden
treasure, who is Jesus, is priceless.
There is no sum that would be possible to buy salvation, as it was paid for by Jesus himself on the cross. Jesus paid for the sins of the world.
landowner is God the Father. God makes it possible for ALL, rich or poor, black or white, to receive and afford the
treasure, (Himself) , by faith in Him alone.
"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-"-Ephesians 2:8 NIV.
"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Romans 6:23 NIV.
What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?" Matthew 16:26
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