Is there a secret to understanding the mysteries of God’s Kingdom?

Three truths stand out from God’s Word. The first is the most difficult to accept.

God is sovereign and He has the right and authority
to grant understanding to whomever He wishes.

The disciples came and said to Him,
“Why do You speak to them in parables?”
Jesus answered them, “To you it has been granted
to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven,
but to them it has not been granted.”
Matthew 13:10-11

Jesus privately told His disciples that they were granted to understand the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven but the great crowd of people who had gathered to hear Him were only granted to hear veiled stories about the kingdom. It appears God chooses to reveal Himself more clearly to some but not all.

We see that in other passages as well. Earlier, Jesus thanked His Father in heaven for hiding kingdom truths from the “wise and intelligent” and revealing them to “babes” (Matthew 11:25). The apostle Paul prayed that the Lord would give those in the church at Ephesus a “spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him” (Ephesians 1:17).

In his letter to the Romans, Paul quoted what God said to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion” (Romans 9:15). And anticipating the objection that we all might make that it’s not fair for some to receive special treatment, Paul paraphrased the words God spoke to the prophet Jeremiah, “does the potter not have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor? (Romans 9:21).”

God, as the Potter, has the right to form the clay, His people, as He wishes. And for most of us, those are hard words to hear. Why are some given special treatment but not others. Are some simply doomed to be on the outside looking in?

Thankfully, the Lord is a gracious God, which leads us to the second truth.

God chooses those with a humble heart.

For thus says the High and Lofty One
Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:
“I dwell in the high and holy place,
with him who has a contrite and humble spirit,
to revive the spirit of the humble,
and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
Isaiah 57:15

Throughout the Old and New Testaments we see God looking at the heart of man (1 Samuel 16:7; Luke 16:15) and preferring the humble and brokenhearted over the proud (Psalm 34:18; Matthew 5:3; Matthew 18:4; James 4:6). Even Jesus’ mission on earth was to “preach the gospel to [the] poor; heal the brokenhearted, proclaim liberty to [the] captives and recovery of sight to [the] blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed” (Luke 4:18).

Jesus disciples humbled themselves, searched out whether the things Jesus said were true and then believed (Matthew 4:19-20; Mark 10:28; John 6:67-69).

But the heart of the others, who only heard in parables, had grown dull and callous (Matthew 13:15), and “though He had performed so many miracles before them, yet they did not believe in Him” (John 12:37). They sought Jesus not for the truth but because He fed them (John 6:26). Their sights were set on the things of God and not God Himself. Even though God had called them, they would not come (Matthew 22:2-3). Which brings us to the third truth.

To those who humbly respond to God’s call,
God gives His Spirit through Whom comes understanding.

Now we have received not the spirit of the world,
but the Spirit who is from God,
that we might understand the things freely given us by God.
1 Corinthians 2:12

The Pharisee Nicodemus humbly sought out Jesus one night seeking to understand. And Jesus explained that unless one is “born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). He further explained that one must be “born of water and the Spirit” (John 3:5). This Spirit from God is called the Comforter and the Holy Spirit, Who teaches about and reveals the deep things of God to those who believe (John 14:26; 1 Corinthians 2:10).

Without the Holy Spirit we cannot understand the kingdom mysteries (1 Corinthians 2:14).